Epochs of Modern History 



EDITED BY 



DWARD E. MORRIS, M.A. & J. SURTEES PHILLPOTTS, B.C.L. 



THE AGE OF ELIZABETH 



REV. M. CREIGHTON, M.A. 



=e_ * 11 




THE 



■ AGE OF ELIZABETH^ 



BY 

MANDELL CREIGHTON, M.A. 

LATE FELLOW AND TUTOR OF MERTON COLLEGE, OXFORD 



x-^^ 



WITH MAPS AND TABLES 



NEW YOEK: 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 

1887. 






! 22 l§Of 



) 



PREFACE. 



My object in this little book has been to adhere as 
closely as possible to the intention of the series, and 
to embrace as much ^-I could of the contemporary- 
history of Europe. For this purpose severe com- 
pression was required, and though I have endea- 
vored to preserve the perspective of events, I can- 
not hope that I have always succeeded. 

I have grouped European history round the history 
of England, because I considered that in that way it 
would be made most interesting to the English reader. 
I have regarded the political history as of the chiefest 
importance, and only in the case of England have I 
found space for social or literary history. 

My guide throughout the whole of this period has 
been Ranke, who has made the history of the six- 
teenth and seventeenth centuries peculiarly his own. 
His " Englische Geschichte " * contains a clear and 

* Translated, Clarendon Press, 6 vols., 1875. 



vi Preface. 

vigorous sketch of the reign of Elizabeth in its con- 
nection with external politics. His " Deutsche Ge- 
schichte im Zeitalter der Reformation "^ is a masterly- 
account of the Reformation in Germany and of its 
political effects upon that country. His ''Romische 
Papste " ^ contains an account of the influence of the 
Reformation movement on Catholicism, the progress 
of the Catholic Reformation and its reaction upon 
Protestantism. His " Geschichte Frankreichs " ^ 
unfolds the influence of the Reformation on the 
fortunes of the French monarchy. Finally a little 
book, originally published as the first volume of a 
series of which the " Romische Papste " formed the 
second part, under the name of " Fiirsten und Volker 
der Siid-Europa" * contains an admirable account of 
the formation of the Spanish monarchy under Charles 
V. and Philip II. 

These works of Ranke will remain as the chief 
sources of our knowledge of the history of these times. 
They are founded upon a careful study of contem- 
porary documents, especially upon the despatches of 
the Venetian ambassadors. There are no works of 

^ Partly translated by Mrs. Austin ; but the translation is now 
unfortunately out of print, and can rarely be met with. 

2 Translated by Mrs. Austin. 3 vols. Fourth edition. Mur- 
ray, 1866. 

3 A very small part of this has been translated by M. A. Gar- 
vey (Bentley, 1852) ; but this also is out of print, and is only a 
fragment. 

4 Translated by Walter Kelly under the title "The Ottoman 
and Spanish Empires" (Whittakers, 1843); also out of print. 



I'reface. vii 

equal value to which the student of this period can 
be referred for knowledge of the history as a whole. 

For English affairs, Hayward's " Life of Edward 
VI.," Goodwin's ''Life of Queen Mary," and Cam- 
den's " History of Elizabeth" are standard authorities. 
Mr. Froude's "History of England ' ' is admirable for 
the reigns of Edward VI. and Mary, and his re- 
searches have thrown much light upon the politics 
and character of Elizabeth. Mr. Motley's *'Rise of 
the Dutch Republic" and ''History of the United 
Netherlands ' ' give a detailed account of the revolt 
of the Netherlands, and bring to notice many cha- 
racteristics of Elizabeth's government. 

For the internal history of England, Hallam's 
" Constitutional History" is indispensable. For ec- 
clesiastical history, Strype's "Annals of the Refor- 
mation" and "Life of Parker" are important. 

For the social history, Nichols' "Progresses of 
Elizabeth," Stow's "Survey of London," and Harri- 
son's "Description of England" at the beginning of 
Holinshed's Chronicle are of the greatest importance. 
Nathan Drake's "Shakespeare and his Times" is a 
mine of interesting quotations from contemporary 
authors. Of Elizabeth's court life and personal 
character. Sir John Harrington's " Nugse Antiquae " 
and Naunton's "Fragmenta Regalia" give interest- 
ing accounts: Miss Aikin's "Memoirs of the Court 
of Queen Elizabeth ' ' collects a great deal of charac- 
teristic gossip. 

For the history of trade, Macpherson's "Annals of 



viii Preface. 

Commerce " can be referred to. Mr. Fox Bourne's 
** English Seamen mider the Tudors " gives a clear 
account of English discoveries during this period. 

In literary history I have not aimed at doing more " 
than connecting the literary development of England 
with the great stimulus to national activity which the 
events of Elizabeth's reign supplied. The young 
student would gain more by reading one or two of 
the works referred to than by reading literary histo- 
ries or criticisms on books which he has not read. 

The ground which I have traversed in the social 
history of this period has been covered since I began 
to write by Mr. Green's *' History of the English 
People," which has devoted considerable space to the 
social and literary history of Elizabeth's reign. To 
that work, in the first instance, I refer all who need 
more detailed information on these points. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

PAGE 

The Reformation, its causes and meaning . . I 
Questions raised by it . . . . . 3 
Mixture of politics and religion .... 4 
Important points in the history of the sixteenth century 4 
Religious condition of Europe in the middle of the six- 
teenth century 5 



BOOK I. 

RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT IN GERMANY 
AND ENGLAND, 





CHAPTER I. 






RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT IN GERMANY. 






Germany and the Reformation . 


7 


I5I9-I544. 


Projects of Charles V. . . . 


8 


1544. 


Charles V, attacks the Protestants 


9 




His difficulties ... 


9 


1552. 


Reaction against Charles V. 


10 


1555. 


Diet of Augsburg aims at arranging religious 





difficulties . . . .13 



t Contents, 

Weakness of its arrangement 
Hopes of Charles V. . 

CHAPTER II. 

REFORMATION IN ENGLAND UNDER EDWARD VI. — 1 547 

Position of Charles V. towards England 



PAGE 
• 14 



-53- 



. 14 

[531-1547. Reformation under Henry VIII. . 15 

State of parties in England , . • !■ 5 

Jan. 1547. Accession of Edward VI. . . 17 

1547-49. The Reformation under the Protector Somerset 17 

1547. England and Scotland . . ,18 

1548-9. Troubles in England ... 19 

1549, England and France . . . .21 
Fall of Somerset .... 23 

1550. Warwick and the Reformation . . 23 
Northumberland's plans ... 26 

1553. Death of Edward VI. ... 28 

Failure of Northumberland , . 28 

CHAPTER III. 

CATHOLIC REACTION IN ENGLAND. — 1553-55. 

Queen Mary and Charles V. . . .29 

1553. Mary's religious changes ... 31 
Mary's marriage schemes , . ♦ 32 

1554. Wyatt's Rebellion ... 34 
Mary marries Philip . . . -36 
Re-establishment of papal supremacy . 37 
Return of Cardinal Pole and persecution . 38 
Mary's home government . . 40 

CHAPTER IV. 
FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND, AND THE PAPACY. — 1 555-58. 

1556. Abdication of Charles V. . . -41 

1557. Successes of Philip II. . , . 42 
Pope Paul IV. and England . . .42 



Contents. xi 

PAGE 

1557-8. Loss of Calais . . . -43 

1558. Mary's failure and death ... 44 
Accession of Elizabeth . . .45 
Her political difficulties ... 47 

CHAPTER V. 

RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT IN ENGLAND. 

Elizabeth's religious views . , 47 

1559. Re-establishment of Protestantism . 48 
Opposition of the bishops . . 49 
Elizabeth's ecclesiastical system , . 50 



BOOK II. 

FRANCE AND SCOTLAND.— iS20-6t, 

CHAPTER X. 

THE REFORMATION MOVEMENT IN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 
1515-47. Reformation in France under Francis I. . 53 

1536-58. Reformation in Geneva and France. . . 54 

1559. > Death of Henry II. and power of the Guises . 56 

State of Scotland and its relations with France 57 
John Knox and the Reformation . . 59 

Rising against the Regent . . .60 

1560. Treaty of Berwick between Elizabeth and the 

Scots . . . . .62 

Conspiracy of Amboise and recall of the 

French from Scotland . . 62 

Reformation carried through in Scotland . 63 

Troubles in France . , .64 



xii Contents. 

CHAPTER II. 

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 







PAGE 




Mary in France. 


. 65 


>56i. 


Her return to Scotland . 


65 




Elizabeth's relations towards Mary , 


. 67 




Mary's policy .... 


69 


1562-3. 


Beginning of the religious wars in France 


. 69 




Elizabeth helps the Huguenots . 


71 


1565. 


Mary's marriage with Darnley 


. 73 




Catholic plans in Scotland 


73 


1566. 


Damley's quarrel with Mary . 


. 75 


1567. 


Murder of Darnley 


78 




Mary's marriage with Bothwell 


. 79 




Mary's enforced abdication 


. 81 



BOOK III. 

SPAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS, 
CHAPTER I. 

THE SPANISH MONARCHY. 

Power of Charles V. . . . 83 

His government of his dominions. • .86 

Changes made by Philip II. . . 87 

Character and policy of Philip II. . . 88 

CHAPTER II. 

THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS. 

The Netherlands and their government . 91 

Their prosperity . . • 9' 

1558-66. Opposition to Philip II. . . . 92 



Contents. xiii 

PAGE 

Philip's ecclesiastical measures . . 93 

Growing discontent in the Netherlands . 95 

Commercial effects on England . . 96 

1566. Image-breaking in Antwerp . . 97 

1567. Alva sent to the Netherlands . . .99 

1568. Resistance of the Prince of Orange . 100 

CHAPTER III. 

RESULTS OF ALVA'S MEASURES ON FRANCE, ENGLAND, 
AND SCOTLAND. — 1567-70. 

1567. Rising of the Huguenots . . . 102 

1569. Second Religious war in France , .102 

1570. Peace of St. Gennain . . . 103 

1568. Mary of Scotland escapes from prison and 

takes refuge in England . . . 104 

Conduct of Elizabeth . . . 106 

1569. Rebellion of the Northern Earls . . 107 
Cruelty in its suppression . . 108 

CHAPTER IV. 

STRUGGLES OF CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM. — I57O-72. 

1570. Excommunication of Elizabeth , , 109 
Murder of the Regent Murray in Scotland no 
England's answer to the Pope . . no 

1571. Ridolfi's plot ..... no 
Catholic plans in France . . . 1 12 
Charles IX. and Coligny . • "3 
Alva's cruelty in the Netherlands . I15 

1572. Foundation of the United Netherlands .116 
French help to the Netherlands . . I17 

CHAPTER V. 

ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY, 1 572. 

Plot against Coligny . . . .118 

Paris and the Huguenots . . 1 19 



xiv Contents. 

PAGE 
Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day , 120 

Effect of the massacre in France and the 

Netherlands . . . 121 

1572-3. Siege of Goes and Haarlem , . . 123 

1573. Alva leaves the Netherlands . . 124 
General result of the massacre . .125 

1574. Death of Charles IX. . . . 126 
Summary ..... 126 



BOOK IV. 

HOME GOVERNMENT OF ELIZABETH. 

CHAPTER I. 

ELIZABETH AND HOME AFFAIRS. 

Elizabeth as a politician . . 1 28 

Her economy and deceit . . .129 

Her love of peace . . . 129 

Her religious views . . . .130 

Condition of ecclesiastical affairs . 133 

English commerce . . . . • 135 

CHAPTER II. 

ELIZABETH'S COURT AND MINISTERS. 

Lord Burleigh . . . . 137 

Sir Nicolas Bacon . . . -139 

Elizabeth's favorites . . . 140 

Earl of Leicester . . . .141 

Elizabeth's court and magnificence . 143 

Royal progresses . • . .144 



Contents. xv 



BOOK V. 

CONFLICT OF CATHOLICISM AND PRO- 
TESTANTISM.— i^ 76-86. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE STRUGGLE IN THE NETHERLANDS. 1 5 76-83. 

PAGE 

1576. The Spanish Fury . . . -149 
Coming of Don John of Austria . 150 

1577. Failure of his schemes . . . 151 

1578. Coming of the Prince of Parma . 153 

1580. Philip's conquest of Portugal . . 154 
Ban against the Prince of Orange . 154 

1581. Duke of Anjou woos Elizabeth . *^ . 156 

1582. Anjou made sovereign of the Netherlands 157 

1583. Anjou's treachery . .. . 158 



CHAPTER II. 

THE JESUITS AND THE CATHOLIC REACTION. 

Rise and objects of the Jesuits . '159 

1576-9. England and the Papacy . . i6i 

1582. Catholic attempt in Scotland . . 162 

1579-84. Seminary priests and Jesuits in England 163 

1584. Assassination of the Prince of Orange . 1 65 

Throgmorton's conspiracy in England 166 

Association to protect Elizabeth . 166 



Contents. 



BOOK VI. 

THE LEAGUE AND THE ARMADA, 
CHAPTER I. 

SPAIN AND THE LEAGUE. 

PAGE 

1585. Philip II. and France . , , , 167 
Formation of the League . . . 168 
Henry III. and the League , , .170 
Siege of Antwerp 1 70 

5585-6. Leicester in the Netherlands . . .173 

Drake in the Spanish Main . , . 1 73 

1586. Death of Sir Philip Sidney . . . .174 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SPANISH ARMADA. 

Babington's conspiracy . . . •175 

1587. Mary implicated, condemned, and executed 1 76 

Results of Mary's death . . . .177 

Progress of the League . . . . 178 

1587. War of the three Henrys .... 179 

1588. Triumph of Guise in Paris , , , 180 

Exploits of Drake 181 

The Invincible Armada . . . . 181 

Cause of its failure 185 

Importance of the crisis . , . . 186 



CHAPTER III. 

REACTION AGAINST SPAIN. 

1588. Assassination of Guise 

1589. Assassination of Henry III. 
1589-92. England's naval war against Spain 

Colonizing expeditions , 



187 
188 
189 
192 



Contents, xvii 

PAGE 

1590. Success of Henry IV. in France . , , 195 

1591-2, Reaction in favor of Henry IV. , , 197 

1593* Conversion of Henry IV I98 



BOOK VIL 

ENGLAND AFTER THE ARMADA. 
CHAPTER I. 

ENGLISH LIFE IN ELIZABETH'S REIGN. 

Grow^th of national character . . • 199 

Results of increased prosperity . , 200 

Architecture ... ... 200 

Furniture , . . . , , 202 

Dress ....... 204 

Amusements ...... 205 

The theatre ...... 206 

The poor-lavi^s . ... 207 

Occupations , . , , 208 

CHAPTER II. 

ELIZABETHAN LITERATURE. 

Causes of literary activity .... 209 

Increase of learning .... 209 

Historical inquiry ..... 210 

Prose writers . . , . . . 211 

Euphuism ....... 212 

Sir Philip Sidney . . , . , 213 
Puttenham and Bacon . . . .214 

Love-poetry 215 

Spenser . . . . . . , 216 

The Drama ...... 218 

Greene 219 

a 



xviii Contents. 

PAGE 
Marlowe . . . . . 220 

Shakespeare . . • 222 

Later Dramatists .... 226 



CHAPTER III. 

LAST YEARS OF ELIZABETH. 

1595. Religious settlement in France . , 227 

1596. Expedition against Cadiz . . 228 
Parties at Elizabeth's court . . 229 
Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex , 229 

1597. The Island Voyage .... 230 

1598. Death of Philip II. ... 231 

1599. Essex in Ireland .... 233 
1 601. Rising of Essex . . . 234 

Elizabeth and Parliament . • • 235 

1603. Death of Elizabeth , , • 236 



GENEALOGICAL TABLES. 

PAGE 

1. Illustrating Mary's Reign ..... 33 

2. ** Mary of Scotland's Claim to the 

English Throne ... 74 

3. Showing Parentage of Charles V. . . .84 

4. *« Succession to the Throne of France . 169 



MAPS. 

1. Europe in the age of Elizabeth . . to face title 

2. Dominions of Philip II 85 

3. The Netherlands 115 

4. English and Spanish Discoveries in the New 

World . . . . , ... 167 

5. The Mouth of the Tagus .... 19c 







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THE 

AGE OF ELIZABETH 



INTRODUCTION. 

The period of the Reformation marks a great change 
in the general condition of Europe. It was a change 
which had been slowly coming, but which ^he Refor- 
then first made itself decidedly and clearly nation, 
known. New knowledge had arisen amongst the peo- 
ples of Europe, and new ideas had come from different 
sides. The old Latin writers were discovered, and read 
with eagerness; the fall of Constantinople sent many 
Greeks and much of the old Greek literature into 
Europe. The discovery of the New World extended 
men's ideas of their surroundings, and opened up a wide 
field for their speculations. National feeling had grown 
stronger throughout Europe, as the nations had become 
united under strong rulers. 

The result of all this was that men's interests became 
more secular, that the old ecclesiastical system did not so 
entirely cover men's lives as it had done in 

■' Its causes. 

the Middle Ages. The change may be seen 
by noticing how gradually the Crusading spirit passed 
into the spirit of colonization. Both were founded on the 
love of adventure ; but this when guided by ecclesiasti- 
cal feeling led to the Crusades, when guided by national 



2 Introduction. 

feeling led to colonization. As men found that they had 
more interests outside the ecclesiastical system, they 
began more to criticise its organization and working. 
They felt that man was not made for Church system, 
but Church system for man. There were demands on 
all sides for a reformation of the existing state of things. 

It was impossible to advance in other matters until 
religion had first been dealt with. Every one who wanted 
to make any improvement found that he must begin 
from religion in some shape or another. If he were a 
scholar, like Erasmus, who wanted to make men wiser, 
he soon found that the existing condition of religion 
stood in his way. If he were a politician, like Charles 
v., he soon found that religious questions were the chief 
ones which he had to consider in conducting affairs. 

Some men were content with the old state of things, 

either from interested motives, or from real love for that 

form of worship in which they had been born 

Its meaning. . , , ^ , . •, , 

and bred. Others wished to keep the old sys- 
tem but make a few alterations in it : they believed the 
government of the Church to be the right one, and to be, 
moreover, quite necessary, though they thought that it 
had been carelessly carried on, and needed improve- 
ment. Others declared that they could find no authority 
in Scripture for the existing system of the Church, and 
wished to change it altogether. Gradually men had to 
range themselves on one side or the other. Either they 
thought that in and through the Church only did man 
have communion with God ; or they thought that God 
would receive any man who faithfully turned to Him. 
This was the broad distmction between the two parties 
we shall call Catholics and Protestants. 

Hence it was that religion naturally became the battle- 
field of the old and new state of things. A religious 



Introduction. 3 

change was, moreover, most deep-reaching in its conse- 
quences. It could not be made without leading to changes 
in politics and society also. For a change in belief meant 
a schism from the existing Christian community. This 
community was ruled over by the Pope, who kept together 
the different local authorities, and secured the unity of 
Western Christendom in ecclesiastical matters. A change 
of belief meant a revolt from his authority. 

This was very difficult to carry out in any case. For 
the people who lived under one civil government were 
not likely all at the same time to agree to Questions 
make this change. They differed in conse- "^^ised by it. 
quence about almost every point : for the old ecclesiasti- 
cal system went down to the very foundation of daily life 
and affected almost everything that men did. In every 
State, therefore, there were divisions, and that too about 
serious matters. It was not merely a question of reli- 
gious beliefs or forms of worship. The Church had large 
lands,^-were these to go to the old religion or to the new 
religion, or were they to be taken for secular purposes ? 
Were priests to be looked upon as ordinary men, or were 
they the sole channels through whom men could obtain 
salvation ? Were they to marry, or were they not ? 
These were questions that had to be settled in some way 
or another. Those who held to the old beliefs could not 
endure, without a struggle, to see all that they rever- 
enced set aside. Not only must they keep to the old 
beliefs themselves, they must see also that the old sys- 
tem was handed down to those that came after them ; 
they must see that it was not destroyed. So, too, those 
who had accepted the new beliefs felt that they must try 
to spread their own convictions, and must try to root out 
superstition. Nothing but discord could be the result of 
these opposite convictions. 



4 Introduction. 

The Reformation, then, introduced division into every 
State, division which was more or less bitter according 
as the two parties were more or less equally balanced. 

But this was not all. Besides affecting the internal 
condition of States, the Reformation greatly affected 
their relations towards one another. According to the 
old state of things Christendom was one ; but now it had 
ceased to be so. According to the old ideas, the Empe- 
ror was the temporal head of Christendom, and now it 
was to be expected that he would try and bring back 
unity, if it were at all possible. Besides all the other 
causes for quarrelling which existed in Europe between 
different States, difference of religion was now added. 

The consequence of this was that politics and religion 
became most strangely mixed together. Not only were 
Mixture of there two parties in each State in open or 
religion. concealed warfare with one another, but 

also all the relations between States were regulated very 
greatly by religious considerations. Protestantism began 
simply enough in an attempt to worship God more in 
accordance with the dictates of reason and conscience. 
This attempt, however harmless it might seem, really 
meant a great change in the government of the State 
which allowed it to be made. It meant also a great 
change in all the political relations of Europe. 

It was hardly likely that these changes could be made 

peaceably ; the interests involved were too great. Only 

after a period of internal struggle did each nation decide 

which side it was going to take. Only after a period of great 

conflict did Europe form itself into a new political system. 

The interest of the first half of th,e six- 
Important T • • 1 

points in the teenth century lies in tracing the causes that 
sixteenth cen- brought about the religious movement, and 
^^^- in seeing how the new principles were at first 



Introduction. 5 

worked out. The interest of the last half of the sixteenth 
century lies in seeing the political effects which were pro- 
duced by the religious movement, when it had once 
taken root. These political results, as we have seen, 
were of two kinds — they affected the nations separately, 
and they affected Europe as a whole. We have, then, to 
keep before us these two main points : — 

1. The internal conflicts of the nations of Europe be- 
fore each decided which side in religion it should take 
as a nation. 

2. The changes in the political relations of Europe 
generally which the Reformation brought about. 

It is, of course, impossible to keep these two points 
separate from one another ; but it will be easier to under- 
stand what was going on, and to see the reasons for the 
relative importance of events, if these two main points 
be kept in view. 

In the middle of the sixteenth century the revolt 
against the authority of the Pope had spread over the 
greater part of northern Europe. Norway, Religious con- 
Sweden, and Denmark had accepted the Europe in the 
Protestant teaching. England had thrown "^^^J^ "^^ 
off obedience to the Pope, though Henry century. 
VIII. was not in favor of any great change in doctrine. 
Germany was divided into Protestant and Catholic 
States, the Protestants prevailing in the north, and the 
Catholics in the south. The Swiss Cantons were divided 
into Catholic and Protestant, but the Swiss Protestants 
were not agreed with the Protestants of Germany. There 
were also Protestants in France, Scotland, and the 
Netherlands, though, as yet, they had not made any very 
important advance. 

We shall have to trace the fortunes of the Reforma- 
tion in the following countries : 



6 Introduction. 

(i.) In Germany, where a temporary toleration was 
devised. 

(2.) In England, where the revolt from Rome was 
confirmed, and Protestant opinions were seen to be 
necessary to the political liberty of the country. 

(3.) In Scotland, where the people shook off Catholi- 
cism almost at once, and changed their old pohtical atti- 
tude to agree with their new religious condition. 

(4.) In the Netherlands, where Protestantism fostered 
a desire for freedom, and supported the people in a long 
war against Spain. 

(5.) In France, where a long period of civil war was 
caused by religious differences, but, in the end, Catholi- 
cism proved itself to be more deeply rooted than Protes- 
tantism. 

Besides these occurrences in the separate countries 
we have to see how the struggle between Protestantism 
and Catholicism in Europe generally tended to centre 
round the two powers of England and Spain. The result 
of this struggle was that England began to take the fore- 
most position in Europe, while Spain, though still wear- 
ing the appearance of outward strength, grew internally 
weaker and weaker. 



BOOK I. 

RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT IN GERMANY 
AND ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER I. 

RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT IN GERMANY. 

Germany consisted of a number of small States, each 
under the rule of their hereditary Prince, and of a num- 
ber of Free Cities, who were under no control Germany 
except that of the Emperor, which was very R4)rmation 
slight. The German king, when he received 
coronation from the Pope, became Emperor, and was 
looked upon as the head of Christendom. Under his 
presidency the Princes of the Empire and Representa- 
tives of the Cities met together at a Diet to settle matters 
of common interest for Germany. 

When many of the States and Cities of Germany fol- 
lowed Luther's teaching, and shook off the old ecclesi- 
astical system, they were of course opposed by those 
that remained Catholic. To protect themselves they 
formed, in 1529, a league known as the league of Smal- 
kald, from the place where it was concluded. The 
Catholics formed a league against them, and so Ger- 
many was divided into two opposite camps. 

Charles V. had been Emperor since 15 19, and he 
would have interfered to put down Protestantism in Ger- 

7 



8 Religious Settlement in Germany. A. D. 1544 

Projects of many at its first growth, if he had been 
Charles V. g-ble. He was, however, ruler of so many 
other countries besides Germany, that he could not 
attend to Germany alone. As King of Spain he had to 
war against the Moorish corsairs, who injured the Span- 
ish trade. As the inheritor of the possessions of the 
Dukes of Burgundy, he had to war with the King of 
France. As Emperor he had to make good his position 
in Italy. As head of the House of Austria, as well as 
head of Christendom, he had to drive out the Ottoman 
Turks, who pressed up the Danube valley, and threat- 
ened to extend their conquests over Europe. 

All these things employed Charles V., and he needed 
all the help that he could get from Germany to enable 
him to carry out these great undertakings. In Germany 
he was king ; but he was checked by the independent 
power of the Princes and the Free Cities, and could raise 
money and troops only for such purposes as they approved 
of. Many of them were in favor of the Reformation, and 
would not help him in any undertaking directed against 
Protestantism. He thought it wise, therefore, to leave 
Protestantism alone at first, and to draw from the grati- 
tude of the Protestant Princes the help that he needed 
for his other political designs. He opposed Protestant- 
ism, for he was Emperor and head of the Catholic world. 
But he was not, therefore, a devoted adherent of the 
Papacy, and was convinced that some religious changes 
were necessary. These changes he hoped to be able to 
introduce when he had leisure ; meanwhile he let matters 
take their course in Germany, so far as not to interfere 
forcibly. 

At last, in 1 544, Charles V. had put down the pirates, had 
succeeded in making himself master of the greater part 
of Italy, had seen the Ottomans fallback from their most 



-1548. Charles V. and Protestantism. 9 

threatening position, and had made peace with France. 
Now he could turn his attention to Germany. c\,^^\^s v 
His plan was to compel the Pope to summon attacks the 
a General Council, at which the points in dis- 
pute between Catholics and Protestants should be set- 
tled. But the Protestants refused to acknowledge such 
a council, and Charles, with the help of the Pope, de- 
clared war against the Smalkaldic League in 1 546. 

Many Protestants helped him ; for not all of them be- 
longed to the league, and some hoped to get toleration 
without resistance to the authority of the State. The 
chief leaders of the Smalkaldic army were John Frederic, 
Elector of Saxony, and Philip, Landgrave of Hesse. 
Their army was stronger than the Emperor's, but was 
broken up by the retreat of the Elector. His Electorate 
had been attacked in his absence by his nephew Maurice, 
who though a Protestant was fighting on the Emperor's 
side. When once the Smalkaldic forces were broken, 
the Emperor reduced the Protestant cities one by one. 
Next year he defeated the Elector, and took him pri- 
soner; the Landgrave of Hesse submitted to him, and 
was also kept in prison. It seemed as though Protes- 
tantism were entirely ruined. 

But, meanwhile, the Pope had become alarmed at this 
success : he had also quarrelled with the Emperor about 
the possession of some towns in Italy. - He j)jgj,yjjjgg 
was afraid that Charles V. might settle re- of 
ligious matters in a way unfavorable to the 
Papacy. So he broke up the Council, which had begun 
to sit at Trent, as he thought that place was too much 
under the Emperor's power. 

Thus Charles V. had compelled the Protestants to obey 
the Council, but there was no Council to obey. Here- 
upon he took a step like Henry VIII., and published a 



lo Religious Settlement in Germany. A. D. 1552. 

decree called the " Interim " ( 1 548), which enacted the old 
ecclesiastical system with a few changes, and toleration 
on a few points. This was to be the religion of Germany 
till the Council could go on. 

The "Interim" however, was liked by neither party. 

To the Protestants it was as bad as Romanism ; to the 

Catholics it seemed to be an arbitrary in- 

OppOSltlOn . ,. . Tv/r 

to terference m religious matters. Moreover, 

^^ ^ ■ the national feeling of the Germans was hurt 
by the way in which the Emperor enforced obedience to 
it and kept a foreign army in Germany. The German 
princes also were aggrieved by the imprisonment of the 
Elector and the Landgrave — it was an infringement of 
the rights of the princes as a class, which no prince could 
see with satisfaction. 

Maurice had been made Elector of Saxony by the Em- 
peror for his services. He was a Protestant ; but the 
Maurice of Emperor wished to show that he punished, 

Saxony not Opinions, but disobedience. Perhaps 

Maurice had hoped for greater toleration for Protestant- 
ism, and was now disappointed. Perhaps his policy was 
entirely selfish, and he had only helped the Emperor 
that he might get the Electorate of Saxony for himself; 
now that he had got it he saw he could only keep it by 
helping Protestantism against the Emperor. It is hard 
to say which of these views is true. Maurice is one of 
the most puzzling characters in history ; he was a master 
of deceit, and he died (1553) before he had time to go 
far enough with his plans to enable us to judge what he 
really meant. 

At all events Maurice of Saxony laid a deep plan 
against the Emperor. Seeing that the German Protes- 
Reaction tants Were not strong enough to fight by 

against themsclvcs, he entered into an alliance with 

Charles V. 



A.D. 1552' Maurice of Saxony. ii 

Henry II. of France. Henry II. had only lately come 
to the throne, and was willing enough to signalize his 
reign by striking a blow at the great enemy of 
France. Maurice, laying his plans with deep secrecy, 
managed to keep together the army with which he had 
been besieging the Protestant town of Magdeburg in the 
Emperor's name. As he found that two of his secreta- 
ries were spies of the Emperor's, he kept them in his 
service, and wrote false letters, whose contents were 
meant to deceive the Emperor. Then, when all was 
ready, and the Emperor, entirely unprepared, was at 
Innsbruck, where he had gone to look after the reassem- 
bling of the Council of Trent, Maurice took the field 
against him. Charles V. had to flee from Innsbruck in 
the middle of the night, and only left it two hours before 
Maurice entered. The French, meanwhile, had entered 
Lorraine, and taken Metz, Toul and Verdun. Charles 
V.'s prestige was broken ; he had no money and no 
troops ; he must make peace in Germany, unless he was 
prepared to see Germany permanently divided. If he 
hesitated, the result would be that the Catholic States 
would go with Austria, and the Protestant States would 
form a new power, under the protection of France. 

So, sorely against his will, Charles V. had to agree to 
a peace. At a meeting at Passau, in 1552, Maurice de- 
manded toleration for the Protestants — tole- convention of 
ration granted to them for themselves, with- I'assau. 
out any condition of a future Council, or any mention of 
Papal permission. The Emperor could not be prevailed 
upon to grant this ; it seemed to him to be a neglect of 
his duty as head of Christendom. He would only grant 
toleration until a Diet had been held to settle uniformity. 

Really, Charles'^V.'s plans had failed. He was a firm 
believer in the old political system which depended on 



12 Religious Settlement of Germany. A. D. 1555. 

outward unity. He had hoped to unite his 
Charles V.'s vast dominions into one great power. For 
p ans. ^j^.^ purpose he was prepared to make a few 

changes in the old political and ecclesiastical system, 
though he was not prepared to move from the main ideas 
on which they were founded. Spain, Italy, Sicily, and 
the Netherlands he knew how to manage. He won over, 
says a Venetian ambassador, the Spaniards by his gravity 
and wisdom, the Italians by his success, the Flemings 
by his geniality and kindliness ; but the Germans, in 
spite of his efforts, he never understood. So, when he 
had succeeded everywhere else, he failed in Germany, 
The German princes. Protestant and Catholic alike, 
looked with entire disfavor on his attempt to make a 
strong central power in Germany. The German people, 
Protestant and Catholic alike, failed to understand his 
moderate position in ecclesiastical matters ; they wanted 
either no change at all, or much more sweeping changes 
than he was prepared for. So the opposition to him had 
grown strong just as his plans had seemed on the point 
of success. When that opposition had openly declared 
itself, he had to choose between the surrender of his 
plans and a new hazardous war, by which he would run 
great risk of losing the Netherlands and Protestant 
Germany together. 

Charles V. gave way for the present ; the future still 
depended on his success against France. He laid siege 
to Metz with a large army ; but it was to no purpose. 
His troops began to die as winter came on, and 
Charles was obliged to raise the siege, saying, with a 
sigh, that "Fortune was a woman, and did not favor the 
old." 

After this failure, there was no course left but con- 
cession. The Diet of Augsburg in 1555 confirmed the 



^•^' ^555- Ecclesiastical Reservation. 13 

peace agreed to at Passau. The Protes- P'^t of Augs- 

^ . , . ,. . burg, 1555. 

tants were to practice their own rengion, 
wherever it had been at that time estabhshed. Hence- 
forth, all Princes and Cities might tolerate or prohibit 
either religion within their territories. The maxim, 
" cujus regio ejus religio," (he who rules the country 
may settle its religion) was now distinctly accepted. 

By this decree of the Diet of Augsburg the Protestants 
obtained for the first time a legal position within the Em- 
pire. Their right to maintain their religion _, ,. . ^.^ 

1- • 11 • 1 TT r ^ Religious dlffi- 

was unconditionally recognised. Henceforth cuities still un- 
Catholicism could not claim to be the estab- 
lished religion. No Emperor could lawfully attack Pro- 
testant princes on the ground of their Protestantism only. 
The new religion had obtained legal recognition. But 
still there were many points left unsettled, and there were 
many points which were not likely to be settled peaceably 
at once. One question, especially, about which there was 
no agreement, was of pressing importance. What was to 
become of the ecclesiastical property of bishops, or other 
ecclesiastics, who joined the Reformed communion ? 
Was Church land to become secularized when its eccle- 
siastical holder became a Protestant, married and had 
children ? Were the lands given in past time to the old 
Church, to pass over to this new sect ? On the other 
hand, was it fair to the Protestants that all the vast dis- 
tricts at present under the rule of ecclesiastics should al- 
ways belong to the Catholic powers, and always be ex- 
empt from Protestant influence ? No agreement could 
be come to on this point by the Diet ; but it was settled 
by a decree of the Emperor, that any prelate who joined 
the Reformed body, should forthwith vacate his eccle- 
siastical office, with all its possessions, and a new elec- 
tion should at once be made to his office. This, which 
B 



14 Progress of the Reformation. a.d. 15 31 

was called the Ecclesiastical Reservation, was merely a 
decree of the Emperor, and was not accepted by the 
Protestants as a definite law. For the present, both par- 
ties were content to let matters rest. Peace had been 
patched up for a time, but no one expected it to last, 
The Reformation struggle paused in Germany for the rest 
of the century, only to break out with greater violence 
in the terrible Thirty Years War. 

Meanwhile, however, it remained to be seen if Charles 
V. would agree to this new state of things. It was en- 
Hopes of tirely opposed to his views of the unity of his 
Charles V. dominions, and he would not have accepted 
it if it had been possible for him to stand out against it. 
But he saw that the Protestants in Germany, aided by 
France, were too strong for him, unless he could get a 
powerful ally. He turned his attention, for this end, to 
England. The future depended on the success of the 
connection now established between England and the 
Austro-Spanish power. 



CHAPTER II. 



PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND UNDER 
EDWARD VI. — 1 547-1 553. 

" The Emperor is aiming at the sovereignty of Europe, 
which he cannot obtain without the suppression of the 

Reformed religion ; and unless he crushes 
Charles^ V. to- ^^e English nation, he cannot crush the Re- 
kn?^^"^" formation." This remark of Sir William 

Cecil may serve to explain the position in 
which first the Emperor, Charles V., and afterwards his 
son, Philip II., King of Spain, stood towards England. 



-1547* Reformation under Henry VIII. 15 

Their schemes for political supremacy were founded 
upon the old idea of European politics, which regarded 
Europe as a confederacy of nations under the headship 
of Pope and Emperor. England was the first nation 
which, as a nation, broke away from this state of things*, 
it was of the greatest importance to the house of Austria 
and Spain that this rebellion should not be made good. 
The movement against the Papacy had been of long 
standing in England. The English Church had never 
submitted unreservedly to Papal control, _ . 

•' ^ Reformation 

and Papal encroachments had been guarded under 
against, especially in the reigns of Edward I. ^^^ 
and Edward III., by stringent laws. At a time when 
general discontent with the Papacy prevailed in Europe 
particular cause for discontent was given to Henry VIII. 
As the royal power was then at its greatest height in 
England, Parliament transferred to the king the title of 
*' Supreme Head of the Church of England," and abol- 
ished all the rights over the Church in England which 
the Pope at that time claimed. 

This abolition of the Pope's power was all that Henry 
VIIL, and perhaps a majority of the English people, 
meant at first by the measures taken in his reign. 
Henry's plan was to maintain the Church discipline and 
doctrines unchanged, but to maintain them without the 
authority of the Pope. 

As time went on it became clear that this was impos- 
sible. The " men of the new learning " continued to ap- 
ply to religious matters the tests of reason, , ,. 

r ■ • • 1 1 r , State of reh- 

or of primitive custom, and much of the gious parties, 
existing system was beginning to crumble 
away before them. Many, on seeing this, became 
alarmed, and asked themselves the question — "Where is 
this to stop ?" Afraid of the risk attending further in- 



1 6 Progress of the Reformation, a.d. 1547. 

quiry, they went back to the old Papal system, as being 
surer than the novelties they heard on every side. They 
went back again to their old convictions, determined to 
meddle no more with change, but henceforth to fight 
the battle of the Pope. 

So, too, with the common people. They seem at first 
to have been willing enough to have the Pope set aside. 
But in the dissolution of the monasteries and its results, 
they soon began to see and feel what the royal headship 
of the Church might mean. Many who had seen with 
joy the monasteries fall, soon felt that their joy had been 
without cause. The monastery lands had passed to harder 
masters ; the taxes, which they had fondly hoped they 
never would have to pay again, were soon levied as if 
the royal coffers were no better filled than before. Many 
felt a great want in the associations of their daily life 
when they looked at the ruined piles with which so much 
that was solemn in their own lives had been connected. 
A large party, certainly the majority of the people, 
wished the old state of things quietly back again. 

Against these was set a party of earnest men — tho- 
roughly convinced of the badness of all that had gone 
on before, and wishing only to carry the changes further, 
so as to uproot everything that might still tend to keep 
the old errors alive. 

So long as Henry VIII. reigned, the more violent 
members of these two parties were kept down, and 
Henry forced his own position — the old Church system 
without a Pope — upon all alike. He seems, however, to 
have moved on, in his later days, in the direction of fur- 
ther reforms ; and he was inclined still more towards the 
party of the new learning by the violent conduct of the Earl 
of Surrey, which brought suspicion on his father also, the 
Duke of Norfolk, who was at the head of the Papal party. 



A. D. 1547- Reformation under Somerset. I'j 

When Henry died (Jan. 28, 1547), he appointed by his 
will a council of sixteen members, who were to manage 
affairs during the minority of his young son, 
Edward VI. Amongst the members of the Edward VI. 
Council there was a majority of the men of 
the new learning, and the future movement of the Re- 
formation in England depended upon the way in which 
they would act. 

The Council seems to have felt the difficulty of its 
position. In the unsettled state of affairs it was neces- 
sary that the will of one man should guide the State. 
The Council therefore appointed one of their number, 
Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, Protector of the 
Realm. He was made Duke of Somerset, in accordance, 
it was said, with the late king's wish. As being Edward 
VI. 's uncle, he was likely to maintain his interests. 

The Duke of Somerset was the head of the Protestant 
party, and soon made known his intention of carrying 
crut the Reformation as far as he could. In The Reforma- 
this he was aided by the Archbishop of Can- Protector"^ 
terbury, Thomas Cranmer, whose opinions Somerset, 
during the later years of Henry VIII. had been slowly 
forming themselves after the model of the German Re- 
formers. A series of measures were at once carried out 
which made England a Protestant nation in matters of 
doctrine as well as in Church government. 

First, a royal visitation of the whole kingdom was held. 
Commissioners were sent into every diocese to see that 
the Church services were properly conducted. A book 
of homilies composed by Cranmer, was given to the 
clergy to be read in churches, and also a copy of Eras- 
mus' paraphrase of the New Testament. The services 
were made simpler and more uniform by the publication 
of the Book of Common Prayer. This, which is now 



1 8 Progress of the Reformation. A. D. 1547. 

known as the First Prayer Book of Edward VI., was 
compiled by Cranmer out of the old service-books, with 
a few changes. It has since undergone a few alterations 
and received a few additions, especially in 1662 ; but 
Cranmer' s Prayer Book is in the main the same as that 
which is used by the Church of England at the present 
day. The fact that it is still looked upon with such affec- 
tion and reverence after three centuries, is the best proof 
that can be given of Cranmer's moderation and wisdom. 
On every side there were signs of the fall of the old sys- 
tem. Archbishop Cranmer ate meat openly in Lent ; 
images were pulled down in the churches ; an Act of 
Parliament was passed, allowing the marriage of the 
clergy. The object of the new system was to recognize 
Scripture and not tradition as the basis of men's belief. 

These measures met with the approval of a majority 
of thinking men in England. They were popular in 
London, and in the larger towns. But in the country 
generally they were accepted without being approved of. 
There was a smouldering discontent on every side. It 
was only by a successful government in other respects 
that Somerset was likely to put his religious measures 
upon a secure footing. Let us see, then, how far his 
other plans succeeded. 

The first point to which he turned his attention was a 
union between Scotland and England. Henry VII. and 
e , Henry VIII. had both labored for this ob- 

Somerset s •' 

dealings with ject; for they saw that England could never 
hold an independent position in Europe so 
long as Scotland was an enemy always on the watch to 
take advantage of her momentary weakness. James V. 
of Scotland had died in 1542, leaving an infant daughter, 
Mary, as heir to the Scottish throne, Henry VIII. had en- 
deavored to bring about a marriage between Mary and his 



A.D. 1548. Somerset's Policy. 19 

son Edward, and this policy was pursued by Somerset. 
First he tried negotiations, and when these failed, he ad- 
vanced with an army into Scotland. The Scots were 
defeated with great loss at the battle of Pinkie-cleugh, 
not far from Edinburgh (September 10, 1547). Somer- 
set, however, had not time to follow up his victory. His 
presence was wanted in England, and he hastily left 
Scotland without having accomplished his object. 

By this expedition, Somerset obtained for the time 
great military glory in England ; but he increased the 
taxes of the people, who could ill endure to be taxed 
further. He also sowed so deep hatred in the heart of 
the Scots that they now threw themselves without reserve 
into the arms of France, their old ally. The Scottish 
lords determined to bind France firmly to Scotland by the 
marriage of their young queen with the dauphin. Mary 
was sent to France in August, 1 548, to be educated till 
she was old enough for marriage. All hope of an alli- 
ance between England and Scotland was now at an end. 
and Somerset's endeavors to bring it about had only 
succeeded in making it impossible. Moreover, Scotland, 
by its alliance with France, had pledged itself to Catho- 
licism, and Protestantism would meet from it with bitter 
opposition. 

In this point, then, Somerset had failed ; but still 
greater difficulties soon beset him at home. He had in- 
herited from the last reign great financial Troubles in 
troubles. The country was in debt, in spite England. 
of all the confiscations of ecclesiastical property, and 
the coinage had been depreciated in value, as a means 
of enabling Government to pay off its debts. This poli- 
cy, however, had produced very disastrous results in the 
unsettled state of the country generally. The deprecia- 
tion of the currency at once increased prices. This 



20 Progress of the Refortnation. a. d. 1549. 

made little difference to the merchant or trader, who 
paid a higher price for what he bought, and got a higher 
price for what he sold. But the changes which were 
coming about in methods of cultivation, owing to the 
large amount of land which had suddenly changed 
hands after the dissolution of the monasteries, prevented 
a proportionate increase in the wages of laborers. 
Large estates were now brought together into the hands 
of one landlord, and it was soon found that large farms 
were more profitable when used for grazing than when 
used for growing corn, English wool could be sold to 
Flanders for a high price ; and so large sheep-farms be- 
came the chief agricultural industry of England. 

This change was bad for the laborers in many ways. 
Grazing farms, to be profitable, must be large, while 
corn may be grown, and give a small profit, on small 
estates. The growth of large sheep-farms tended to di- 
minish the number of small tillage-farms, and so of 
small farmers, throughout the land. Again, large graz- 
ing-farms require quiet and solitude, and villages were 
pulled down to make the district better suited for the 
purpose. Grazing-farms also require fewer laborers than 
tillage-farms, and many men were thrown out of em- 
ployment, and so the rate of wages was kept low. 

Nor was this all. The monasteries had been indul- 
gent land-owners, and had never pressed their rights to 
the utmost. The new land-owners, however, were far 
different. They enclosed all the waste land and com- 
mon land which they could, and so deprived many 
families of their only livelihood. 

We cannot, then, be surprised that the poor were dis- 
contented with the Government, and connected their 
present misery with the rehgious change. The monas- 
teries had gone, but the people were worse off than be- 



A.D. 1549' Somersefs Unpopularity. 21 

fore. They wished that the old state of things was back 
again. This feehng led, in the summer of 1549, to 
risings of the peasants in many of the counties, which 
were easily checked at first. They, however, alarmed 
Somerset, who saw the evil of which the peasants 
complained, and did not wish to have the lower classes 
opposed to Protestantism. He therefore appointed com- 
missioners to inquire into their grievances, and to re- 
move the enclosures of the commons. This angered 
the gentry, who were the owners of the land, and en- 
couraged the peasants to take into their own hands the 
redress of their wrongs. The insurrection broke out 
again in a more serious form. Particularly in Norfolk, 
under the leadership of Robert Ket, the insurgents be- 
came very formidable, and were only put down after a 
severe struggle, by the Earl of Warwick, whose forces 
were largely composed of German mercenaries. 

By his conduct in this matter, Somerset had set 
against himself the land-owners, and had only beguiled 
the peasants to their ruin. His policy had Somerset's deal- 
failed as regarded Scotland, and it failed ings with France. 
no less as regarded France. He was of opinion that peace 
must be made with France, at the price of the surrender 
of Boulogne, of the capture of which, in Henry VIII.'s 
reign, England was still proud. This step, however, was 
so unpopular that he did not dare to take it. France, 
encouraged by the troubled state of England and having 
no fear of the Emperor, who was busied in reducing 
Germany, sent a large army against Boulogne, in August, 
1549. It was clear that Boulogne would soon fall, as 
Somerset had not sufficient troops at his command to 
meet the French army in the field. 

Added to all this, Somerset had become personally 
unpopular. The execution of his brother, Thomas, 



22 Progress of the Reformatioji. a.d. 1549. 

Somerset's Lord Scymour, however justifiable, had 
unpopularity, given a great shock to popular feeling. 
There is no doubt that Lord Seymour, who was Lord 
High Admiral, was desirous of supplanting his brother. 
The times were times of wild ambition and desperate 
plotting for place and power. Lord Seymour had mar- 
ried the late king's widow with indecent haste, and after 
her early death had planned to obtain the hand of the 
Princess Elizabeth. He had tried to set the young king 
against the Protector, and to win his confidence himself. 
He was gathering troops for an attack upon his brother, 
and was robbing the Government by receiving money 
fraudulently coined. On these charges he was attainted, 
and was beheaded in 1548. Somerset was rid of a dan- 
gerous rival; but the popular voice was loudly raised 
against the ambition that could require a brother's blood. 

Somerset, though sincere in his zeal for Protestantism, 
was also ambitious tor his own greatness, and was proud, 
haughty, and high-handed in his behaviour. He treated 
the young king with harshness, and kept him under 
great restraint. He himself affected almost kingly mag- 
nificence. He wrote to the king of France as "brother." 
He built himself a splendid palace, Somerset House, in 
the Strand, and spared nothing to make it worthy of his 
position. To provide a site for it he had pulled down a 
parish church, and carried off materials from the ruins 
of chapels. His personal haughtiness to those around 
him had become very offensive, and one of his friends 
did not scruple to write to him — " Of late your grace is 
grown in great choleric fashions, wheresoever you are 
contraried in that which you have conceived in your 
head." 

The opposition to Somerset soon found a leader in 
John Dudley, Earl of Warwick. He was the son of the 



A . D . 1550. Government of Warwick. 2 3 

minister of Henry VII. who had been put to Fall of 
death amid the joy of the people, soon after Somerset. 
the accession of Henry VIII. But Henry VIII. delighted 
to show that he could cast down and could raise up. John 
Dudley was gradually taken into his favor, was created 
Viscount Lisle, and was left one of the executors of the 
king's will, and, as such, a member of the Privy Council. 
When the Earl of Hertford was raised to the title of ' 
Duke of Somerset, Lord Lisle was also created Earl of 
Warwick. Gradually he had gained an ascendancy 
over the Council, and to him, rather than to Somerset, 
was given the command against the insurgent peasants. 
When he returned from his victory over Ket, he openly 
opposed the Protector, and at last a quarrel broke out 
between the Council and Somerset. Both parties began 
to raise troops ; but Somerset found that his popularity 
was gone. He was obliged to submit, to resign the office 
of Protector, to ask pardon for his offences and to retire 
into private life (Dec. 1549). His life was spared for a 
while, but he was found to be too powerful for the safety 
of his opponents. Changes of ministry were in those 
days thought secure only when established by the death 
of the fallen minister. Somerset plotted to regain his 
position. He formed a plan to raise London in his 
defence, and so laid himself open to a charge of high- 
treason, for which he was condemned to death, and 
beheaded in December, 1551. 

On Somerset's fall, Warwick was the head of the 
government. In spite of the unpopularity of the mea- 
sure, he was compelled to carry out Somer- Government 

of Wsrwiclc 

set's plan of peace with France. There were 
no hopes of saving Boulogne. England was impover- 
ished, and had no troops. Her chief men were engaged, 
during the young king's minority, in struggling for their 



24 Prog7-ess of the Refoi-niation. a.d. 1551. 

own ambitious ends. Her people were oppressed by- 
poverty and distracted by religious discord. Peace, 
therefore, was made with France in the spring of 1550, 
and Boulogne was restored. Scotland, also, which was 
weary of war, was included in the peace. It was impor- 
tant for the French king at this time to have his hands 
free that he might be able to help the Protestants in 
Germany, and strike a blow at Charles V. 

Warwick was not, like Somerset, a man of deep re- 
ligious convictions, nor had he any object except self- 
interest in his desire for power. The Catholic party at 
first hoped that he would undo his rival's Protestant 
measures. Perhaps, however, he was afraid, if he did so, 
of again strengthening Somerset's hands by putting him 
at the head of a strong religious party. The young king 
also had formed very decided Protestant opinions, and 
Warwick could not have made any changes without com- 
ing into direct colhsion with the king, in whose name and 
for whose interest he professed to govern. The Catholic 
expectations, therefore, were disappointed, and Warwick, 
having declared for the Reformation, helped to carry out 
measures of a more decidedly Protestant character. 

The success of Charles V. in Germany drove many 
of the leading German Reformers to seek shelter else- 
where. In England they were kindly re- 
the English ceived by Cranmer, whose own opinion ad- 
Reformation. ^^^^^^ gtill further in a Protestant direction, 
from his intercourse with them. The most famous of 
these exiles, Peter Martyr and Bucer, were appointed to 
teach theology at the two universities, and everywhere 
the ideas of the English Reformers received a strong im- 
pulse from Lutheran teachers. This led to a great in- 
crease of reforming zeal» but also to greater lawlessness. 
Many different opinions prevailed on many matters, and 



A. D . 1552. Faults of the Refor7ners. 2 5 

this was viewed with alarm, as the unity of the State was 
beheved to depend on a unity of rehgious belief. Hence 
the Prayer Book was again revised, and its use made com- 
pulsory by an Act of Parliament, which rendered it 
penal to be present at any religious service different from 
that therein prescribed. Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, 
and Bonner, Bishop of London, who had before been 
suspected and imprisoned, were now deprived of their 
sees. To define more clearly the limits of the changes 
which the English Church had made, Archbishop Cran- 
mer, in imitation of the Continental Reformers, com- 
piled and issued the Articles of Religion. These, at first, 
numbered forty-two, but have since been reduced to 
thirty-nine. They, like the Prayer Book, have undergone 
some alterations since Cranmer's day, but in the main 
they continue such as he first issued. 

England was now decidedly Protestant. But it would 
take some time before the changes that had been made 
could sink down thoroughly amongst the people. The 
wildness and lawlessness of some Protestant teachers 
did much to alarm the people and make them fear the 
tendency of the changes which had been made. This 
led to repression on the part of the Government ; and 
when the Reformers are charged with intolerance it 
must be remembered that religion could not, in those 
times, be a matter merely of individual opinion. Upon 
the maintenance of unity, up to a certain point, de- 
pended social order and national strength. 

It is to be regretted that the leading statesmen under 
Edward VI. were influenced, almost entirely, by selfish 
motives, and that many of the leading ecclesiastics spent 
much of their time and energies in quarrels about points 
of small importance. The Reformed doctrines were not 
commended to the ignorant people by the wisdom, the 



2 6 Progress of the Reformation, a. d . 1553. 

charity, or the alluring character of its chief political 
promoters. As an instance of the want of any directing 
zeal may be taken the dealings of the king's advisers 
with Ireland, where, with a view of discouraging the use 
of the Irish language, it was ordered that the Irish 
should only have the church services read to them in 
English. This is one reason of the ill-success of the Re- 
formation movement in Ireland. It came to the people 
in a form imposed upon them by their rulers, a form 
which professed to appeal only to their convictions, yet 
which was conveyed in a language they could not un- 
derstand. 

Protestantism in England had not as yet become a 
national movement. The political leaders had adopted 
it, some through conviction, some for interested motives. 
It was genuinely accepted and zealously spread by a 
number of earnest converts. But the great mass of the 
people were content to obey the laws, though their lin- 
gering sentiment inclined in favor of the old state of 
things, whose evils were forgotten now that they had 
been removed, while the evils of the change were severe- 
ly felt and their influence on the present misery exag- 
gerated. 

The failing health of the young king filled the sup- 
porters of the Reformation with alarm. According to 
Northum- Henry VIII.'s will, the Princess Mary, his 
beriand's daughter by Catherine of Aragon, was to 

succeed. Mary never forgot her Spanish 
descent nor her mother's wrongs, and the religious 
change in England was necessarily connected in her 
mind with the thoughts of an insult offered to herself by 
the declaration of her illegitimacy. She never forgot 
also that she was the Emperor's cousin, and the exam- 
ple of his policy in Germany was not likely to be thrown 



A.D. 1553- Lady Jane Grey. 27 

away upon her. The possibility of her accession filled 
the dominant party with alarm. They saw in it de- 
struction to themselves and their plans. 

As Edward VI. 's health grew worse, and it became 
evident that he had not long to live, the ambition of 
the Duke of Northumberland, for such was Warwick's 
new title, found out a scheme for altering the succession 
to the throne in a manner favorable to himself and Pro- 
testantism. Edward VI. was convinced that it was his 
duty to save the country from the danger of a return to 
" Papistry." He was persuaded that he had power to 
settle the succession by will as much as his father had. 
He forgot that his father had had that power conferred 
upon him by Act of Parliament. When once he was 
convinced, he shared all his father's determination and 
strength of will. The legal scruples of the judges were 
overruled by his stern and imperious commands. The 
moral scruples of Archbishop Cranmer had to bow be- 
fore the young king's will. With his own hand the 
dying boy drew out the draft of an instrument which 
was to secure to England a Protestant Queen. 

Mary, he argued, was barred by illegitimacy, as was 
also Elizabeth. By Henry VII I. 's will the line of his 
younger sister, Mary, who had married Brandon, Duke 
of Suffolk, had been preferred for the succession to the 
line of his elder sister, Margaret, who had married James 
IV. of Scotland.^ Mary's eldest daughter had married 
Grey, Duke of Suffolk, and their eldest child, the Lady 
Jane Grey, who had been recently married to Northum- 
berland's son, the Lord Guilford Dudley, was chosen by 
the dying Edward for his successor. Northumberland 
counted upon the Protestant feeling in London to support 

* See Genealogical table on p. 33 



28 . Cat] 10 lie Reaction in Enghi/id. a.d. 1553. 

hira. He strengthened his family connections by inter- 
marriages, and trusted that France would work with him 
to prevent the Emperor's cousin from ascending the 
English throne. 

When Edward VI. died (July 6, 1553) at the early age 
of seventeen, Queen Jane was duly proclaimed. The 
Lady Jane people, however, taken by surprise at this 
Grey. change, received their new queen in silence. 

The English people have always respected law, and re- 
ligious discord had not yet created among them such 
strong party feeling as to make them ready for violent 
measures. Northumberland soon found that he was 
mistaken in his hopes of strong popular support. He 
had also not succeeded in seizing the Princess Mary. 
She fled to Norwich, where she had been proclaimed 
queen, and where many lords flocked to her standard. 
Moreover, Northumberland had difficulties with the 
queen whom he had chosen. Though only a girl of six- 
teen, she was wise beyond her years, and had a high 
sense of the duties of her office. Her first exclamation, 
when she heard that she was queen, was a fervent prayer 
that God would give her strength to wield her sceptre for 
the nation's good. Northumberland found that he could 
not use her as a puppet. She refused to have her hus- 
band crowned with herself. Those who had joined 
Northumberland from purely selfish motives began to 
fall away when they saw that he would not be absolute 
even if he succeeded. 

Northumberland's scheme, therefore, entirely failed. 

He advanced against Mary, but found that his troops fell 

away from him. At last, in Cambridge, 

Failure and . . i • j 

death of North- losmg heart at the desertions, he proclaimed 
umberiand. y^^^^ queen whilc the tears ran down his 
face. Mary now entered London unopposed. The Lady 



A. D. 1553- Mary and Charles V. 29 

Jane was committed to the Tower. Northumberland 
pleaded guilty to the charge of high-treason, and was 
beheaded. On the scaffold he told the people that he 
died in the old religion, and that ambition only had led 
him to conform to the late changes. It is impossible to 
feel any sympathy for him. He was a man without any 
principle, except that of self-advancement, and his plan 
to alter the succession was badly laid and negligently 
carried out. His selfish policy, his irreligious life, and 
his hypocrisy or cowardice at the last, made him a most, 
fatal friend to the Reformation. It was because the af- 
fairs of England were managed by men like him under 
Edward VI. that Protestant principles did not take 
deeper root, and the reaction that followed became pos- 
sible. 



CHAPTER III. 



CATHOLIC REACTION IN ENGLAND. — 1 5 53 — 1 555. 

The accession of Mary occurred at a time when Charles 
V. was looking for some means of strengthening him- 
self against France, and again making himself supreme 
in Germany. Mary was his cousin, and had been 
brought up in traditional reverence of his Queen Mary 
wisdom and power. During the last reign, and Charles V. 
Charles had interfered to procure for her the right of 
celebrating mass according to the Roman use, which 
Edward VI. was desirous to stop, according to the law. 
Mary, at her accession, found herself without a friend 
whom she could entirely trust. She was fervently at- 
tached to the old religion, and her fondest desire was to 
restore it in England. She threw herself upon the Em- 
c 



3© Catholic Reaction in Engla7id. a.d. 1553. 

peror for support in this, and trusted to his wisdom for 
her guidance. 

It is this that gives Mary's reign its interest. If Eng- 
land could only be allied firmly with Spain, and brought 
back to the old state of things, Charles V.'s policy might 
still succeed. The Austro-Spanish power might be 
estabhshed as supreme in Europe. Change would be 
rolled back, and future reorganization would depend on 
the Emperor's will. 

The ideas of Charles V. were, in the main points, 
much the same as those of Henry VIII. He would 
Charles V 's ^^'^^ ^^ change in doctrine or in Church dis- 
advice to cipline ; but he wished to see flagrant abuses 

reformed, and the Pope's power rendered 
subordinate to his own. We see in Mary and Philip the 
result of the struggle of the previous generation. They 
were both one-sided and bigoted ; both submitted them- 
selves entirely to the Pope, and by the very severity of 
their reactionary measures rendered their success im- 
possible. So scrupulous was Mary even about small 
matters that she put off her coronation till she had re- 
ceived the oil to be used at the ceremony from Granvella, 
Bishop of Arras. She was afraid that the English oil 
might have lost its virtue, owing to the schism from Rome. 

The policy which Charles V. prescribed was one of 
moderation and tolerance till she felt secure. Then the 
alliance with himself was to be secured by Mary's mar- 
riage with his son Philip. Afterwards the restoration of 
the old state of things might be brought about gradually 
by legal means. Charles V. well knew the temper of 
the English people, and did not deceive himself about 
the difficulties of the marriage. He wished Mary, above 
all things, to secure her throne first of all, and warned 
her not to imperil it by offending her people. 



A. D . 1 5 5 3 • Mary* s Marriage Schemes. 3 1 

The religious question, however, could not be left un- 
settled. Mary herself attended the mass service 
according to the old usage, and in many places ^^nf es"^ 
the old services were again introduced. The 
bishops of the CathoUc party, who had been deprived of 
office in the last reign, were restored to their sees, and 
the Reforming bishops were in their turn committed to 
the Tower. Cranmer drew this upon himself by boldly 
publishing a letter in which he expressed his grief at 
hearing that the mass service had been restored in Can- 
terbury Cathedral. He denounced its " blasphemies," 
and offered to prove publicly that the Reformed doc- 
trines were in accordance with Scripture. Ridley, 
Bishop of London, and Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, 
soon followed Cranmer to the Tower. 

The Queen's chief adviser was Gardiner, Bishop of 
Winchester, whom she delivered from the Tower, where 
he had been confined during the late reign. ^^ 

Gardiner is the last of the great ecclesiastical made 
statesmen in whom mediaeval England was so 
rich. He was a statesman rather than an ecclesiastic, 
and the odium which has been attached to his name as 
a persecutor does not seem to be fairly his due. Gardi- 
ner was a thorough Englishman. He had been one of 
the foremost in urging the abolition of the Pope's supre- 
macy under Henry VHL He wished for a national 
Church, but he did not wish in consequence to see any 
changes in doctrine or in ceremonies. He could not, 
therefore, agree with any of the changes in the late reign, 
and he honestly wished to abolish them. 

Gardiner, therefore, as Lord Chancellor, directed 
Mary's policy when she met her Parliament. The Crown 
interest had no doubt been greatly used to get a Parlia- 
ment agreeable to the queen's views. But the heads of 



32 Catholic Reaction i?i England. A. D. 1554. 

the Reforming party were scattered. All were discredited 
by the failure of Northumberland's plot; some were in 
prison ; many had fled to the parts of the Continent 
where they might hold their opinions in safety. The 
middle classes of the large towns were, on the whole, in 
favor of the late changes ; but the country people were, 
on the whole, of Gardiner's opinion — they wanted to have 
the old state of things, but to be rid of the Pope. 

Under these circumstances we cannot feel much sur- 
prise that Gardiner found the new Parliament easy to 
Catholic manage. All the enactments affecting Queen 

restoration. Catherine's divorce were repealed, and 
Mary's legitimacy fully established. It was determined 
to go back to Henry VIII. 's policy. The Prayer Book 
was abolished, and all the changes of the late reign were 
undone. Religion was restored to the condition in which 
it had been left at the death of Henry VIII. 

So far, Mary had advanced without difficulty. The 
next question to be settled was her marriage with Philip. 
, So well did Charles V. know the opposition 

marriage this plan was likely to meet with that he 

sc ernes. would not allow it to be complicated with 

any further question of the Pope's supremacy. At once, 
on the news of Mary's accession, Cardinal Pole was sent 
as the Pope's legate to England ; but on his way through 
the Netherlands he received orders from the Emperor to 
go no further without his permission. There were many 
in England who wished Mary to marry Pole ; for Regi- 
nald Pole's mother, the Countess of Salisbury, was a 
daughter of the Earl of Clarence, Edward IV. 's brother, 
and through her Pole could claim a royal descent.* 
During Henry VIII. 's reign, Pole had gone into exile 

* See Genealogical table opposite. , 



33 



O 

I— 1 

w 

b 

o 
I— I 

< 
H 

3 

t— I 

W 

< 

H 

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I— I 

o 

3 

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Pi 
o 
>^ 

o 

w 

p 

Q 
P< 
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P^ 




34 Catholic Reaction in Engla7id, A.D. 1554. 

rather than recognize the royal supremacy. He incurred 
Henry's anger by writing a most violent book against 
his divorce. In his plots against Henry's throne he so 
far involved his mother and brothers that they died as 
traitors on the scaffold. 

The candidate, however, of the English was Courtenay, 
Earl of Devon, whom Mary had released from the 
Tower. He was recommended by his youth, his noble 
family, and his descent from the old royal house of 
England through his grandmother, who was a daughter 
of Edward IV. His own misconduct, however, gave 
Mary a plausible excuse for rejecting his claims. She 
was determined to marry Philip ; and though Gardiner 
at first opposed this most earnestly, yet, when he saw 
the queen's mind was thoroughly made up, he did his 
best to protect the interests of England, and make the 
marriage as little disastrous as might be to the nation 
and the queen. The terms which he drew up, and 
which the Emperor was obliged to accept, gave Philip 
no royal title over England, no rights of succession, and 
no legal influence over English affairs. 

Still the very mention of this marriage offended the 
English national feeling, and created deep discontent. 
Wyatt's Some English nobles put themselves at the 

rebellion. j^g^^j ^f j-jsings in different counties, in favor 

of the Princess Elizabeth and Courtenay, who were to be 
proclaimed king and queen. But the conspirators did 
not lay their plans wisely. In Devonshire and Cornwall 
Sir Peter Carew discovered himself too soon, and was 
obliged to flee to France. At Coventry, the Earl of 
Suffolk, Lady Jane Grey's father, was equally unsuccess- 
ful, and was made prisoner at Coventry. In Kent only, 
under Sir Thomas Wyatt, was the rebellion formidable ; 
but there it threatened to be dangerous to the queen. 



A. D. 1554- Mary' s Marriage with Fhilip. 35 

Wyatt, at the head of 1 5,000 men, advanced against Lon- 
don. The queen had no troops to meet him, and the 
citizens were wavering in their opinions. In this emer- 
gency Mary displayed her courage. She determined to 
throw herself upon the loyalty of her people, and ordering 
the lord mayor to summon a meeting of the citizens, she 
entered the Guildhall and herself addressed them. Mary 
was not prepossessing in appearance ; but at such a 
moment the black piercing eyes that gleamed from her 
sallow face, and the deep man's voice that jarred upon 
the ear in ordinary talk, lent greater dignity to her look 
and speech. Marriage, she said, was not so dear to her 
that for it she would sacrifice her people's good ; unless 
her marriage were approved by Parliament, she would 
never marry. "Wherefore stand fast against these 
rebels, your enemies and mine. Fear them not, for I 
assure you I fear them nothing at all." 

Next morning 20,000 men had enrolled themselves 
to guard the city. As Wyatt advanced, his army fell 
off from him. He forced his way into London, but 
found that no one rose to welcome him. He tried to 
retire, but was taken prisoner (Feb. 7, 1554). 

After the failure of this rebellion the queen's advisers 
determined to strengthen her position still more by re- 
moving out of the way all who hereafter might raise 
claims against her. Lady Jane Grey and her husband 
were beheaded. Elizabeth and Courtenay were im- 
prisoned, and attempts were made to implicate them in 
Wyatt's rising. The Emperor urged the necessity of 
putting Elizabeth to death ; but Gardiner felt that the 
queen was not strong enough to proceed to such a mea- 
sure. The people had supported Mary both against 
Northumberland and Wyatt, not because she was popu- 
lar, but because she was their lawful queen. Elizabeth 



36 Catholic Reaction in England, a.d. 1554. 

claimed their support for a similar reason, because she 
was the lawful heir to the throne. To lay hands upon 
her would destroy Mary's own position, and make her 
marriage with Philip hated amongst all. For the present 
Elizabeth must be spared. 

This unsuccessful rising against Mary's marriage made 
all who were well disposed towards the queen give their 
consent at once to a measure about which 
rie^TSfip. they had been previously doubtful. Parlia- 
ment gave its approval, and Philip landed 
in England in July, 1554. Philip himself had been 
brought up entirely in Spain, and had imbibed the pride 
and haughtiness of the Castilian nobles. He was cold 
and reserved in manner, stiff and formal in speech. He 
was not of robust frame, and so had no pleasure in out- 
door sports or feats of arms. When he left Spain and 
joined his father in the Netherlands, Charles V. saw 
with distress that his son did not succeed in pleasing any 
of the four peoples whom he soon would be called upon 
to rule. The Italians murmured at his want of vivaci- 
ty ; the Flemish despised him for his coldness and want 
of affability ; to the Germans he was entirely hateful in 
every way. It was in vain that Charles V. had done 
his utmost to secure to Philip the ultimate succession to 
the Empire. Ferdinand of Austria, Charles V.'s brother, 
refused to waive his son's claims, and the German 
princes would not give up their right of election. 
Charles V. was disappointed in his hope of bequeathing 
all his dominions to his son. 

But Charles V. had appreciated his son's faults of 
Philip in manner, and Philip was straitly charged to 

England. spare no pains in conciliating the English. 

Charles V. had already resigned to him Naples and 
Sicily, that he might not come to England as a poor 



A. D. 1554. Restoration of Papal Supremacy, 37 

landless prince. He came, too, well supplied with 
Spanish gold, which was largely distributed amongst the 
most influential members of Parhament, and had great 
weight in bringing about the reconciliation of England 
with the Pope. So anxious was Philip to be conciliatory 
that he begged his attendants, immediately on landing, 
to conform to English customs, and set them an exam- 
ple by drinking a tankard of English ale. 

The chief anxiety of Mary and her husband was to 
bring back England into union with Catholic Christen- 
dom, under the headship of the Pope. It 
was a difficult matter, and had been felt by Hshment'of 
the Emperor to be so. He had urged great *^® ^^v^ 

'^ 00 supremacy. 

caution and moderation, and had checked 
Mary's impetuosity. He had detained Pole, the papal 
legate, in Flanders, and would not allow him to proceed 
till he had obtained from the Pope full powers to allow 
the secularized Church property to remain in the hands 
of its present holders. Charles V. knew well that the 
English had always borne very grudgingly the claims of 
the papal supremacy. To get them to admit it again, 
when once it had been thrown off, would be a very hard 
task. But to get them to admit it, and to require of the 
nobles at the same time to resign the Church lands, of 
which they had obtained possession during the late 
changes, would be entirely impossible. On the other 
hand, it was hard for the Pope to forgive rebellion 
against him, and leave the rebels in possession of all 
the booty they had gained : it was a bad example to the 
other European churches. Under the Emperor's influ- 
ence, however. Pope JuHus HI. who was an easy, good- 
natured man, with no very high views of his office, gave 
Pole permission to waive the question of the restoration 
of the abbey lands. 



38 Catholic Reaction in England, a. D. 1554. 

When this point had been gained, matters were easier. 
The royal influence was used to the utmost to procure 
the election of trusty members of Parliament, and the 
temper of the new House of Commons was 
Pole first tried by a bill to reverse the attainder 

re urns. ^^ Cardinal Pole. This was at once passed, 

and Pole returned to England, at first only as an Eng- 
lish nobleman. But he was so well received by the peo- 
ple that he soon ventured to appear with all the pomp 
of papal legate. This too caused no disturbance, and 
when he reached London he was received with most 
marked honors by the queen and her husband. Parlia- 
ment at once passed a resolution in favor of reunion 
with the Roman Church. On St. Andrew's day (No- 
vember 30), 1554, Pole gave his solemn absolution to 
the nation. The queen and Philip, with all the members 
of both Houses of Parliament, knelt humbly before him 
as he freed them from the penalties of schism and " re- 
stored them to the communion of Holy Church." The 
papal supremacy was at once restored, and all acts of 
parliament which had been passed against it were re- 
pealed. At the same time the clergy formally resigned 
their claims to the Church lands which had been seized, 
and an act of parliament established the titles of their 
existing possessors. The nobles and great land-holders 
must have been glad enough at this papal restoration. 
It certainly benefited them, as it confirmed their claims 
to the new lands they had got. Both of the two reli- 
gious parties were equally pledged not to disturb them in 
their possessions. 

The Catholic reaction had now firmly set in, and was 
in the full tide of popular favor. We have to see how, 
in the next four years, it was entirely discredited; how it 
failed to win popular sympathy ; how it was associated 



A. D. 1555- Religious Persecution. 39 

with persecutions, with national distress and disaster, 
and left behind it a deep-seated hatred of popery which 
sent England forward on a new career as the chief Pro- 
testant nation of Europe. 

First of all, the victorious Catholics entered upon a 
career of persecution, which awoke deep disgust in the 
mind of the people. The old laws against 
the Lollards were revived by Parliament ; s^S"'^^"" 
the chief men amongst the Reformers were 
put in prison. Their condemnation and execution soon 
followed, and men were burnt at the stake in different 
parts of England, to produce a wide-spread feeling of 
fear. Hooper, Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer, who had 
been bishops, were all burnt. Archbishop Cranmer had 
been induced to recant, to save his life ; but his recanta- 
tion was of no avail, and was only meant to add to his 
humiliation. At the last, however, his courage came 
back to him, and he died nobly, lamenting his coward- 
ice, and declaring the depth of his real convictions. 
Everywhere the people looked upon these executions 
with horror and disgust ; while the resolute behaviour of 
the martyrs won general sympathy. It is true that in 
other countries religious persecution claimed many more 
victims than in England. But in England the victims 
were chosen deliberately from the most important peo- 
ple. The persecution was not founded on popular 
fanaticism or wide-spread religious bigotry, but was con- 
ducted and approved of by the government alone. It 
was connected also in the minds of the people with 
Spanish interference and with foreign aggression. In no 
other country did persecution make so deep an impression 
on the mind of the people, and the impression is recorded 
in the title of " Bloody " which has been attached to the 
unhappy queen in whose name these horrors were done. 



40 CatJioUc Reaction in England. A. D. 1555. 

But if the people saw that a recognition of the Pope 
Confiscated meant persecution at which they shuddered, 
Church lands. ^^ nobles and gentry soon found also that 
it might affect them in their most tender point, their 
pockets. The papal claims over the confiscated Church • 
lands, had been given up, but the new Pope, Paul IV. 
(1555), was not at once disposed to agree to the promise 
made by his predecessor. The queen's conscience was 
hurt by the possession of Church lands, and she deter- 
mined to give back to the Church all the ecclesiastical 
property in the hands of the Crown. She busied herself 
also with the restoration of monasteries. The owners of 
Church lands looked upon this with great distrust; they 
began to feel that if the old religion really made head in 
England, they would not long be able to hold their lands 
as they had done. 

This munificence of Mary towards the Church of 
course diminished the royal revenues. The debt which 
„ , had come down from Henry VIII., and had 

Mary s ■' ' 

home been increased under Edward VI., went on 

growing. The coinage had been debased 
in value, and was not restored; foreign trade conse- 
quently languished. The government was so busily en- 
gaged in burning heretics that the national defences 
were neglected. The ships were not kept in repair, and 
the fortifi.cations were allowed to fall into ruins. The 
English coasts were ravaged by exiles, especially from 
Cornwall, who had fled after Wyatt's failure, and now, 
under French protection, infested the Channel as pirates. 
Every one saw that the government of the Catholic re- 
vival was not likely to restore national prosperity. 

When in addition to all these causes of discontent 
was added an estrangement between Mary and the Pope, 
by which the English saw the Pope take the side of their 



A.D. 1556. Opposition to Charles K in Italy. 41 

enemies, we cannot wonder that Mary saw all her hopes 
fade away, and that her reign ended in national humili- 
ation and disasters, which began to make the name of 
the papacy hateful to the majority of Englishmen. For 
the causes of this we must go back to consider the plans 
of Charles V., and see how they had been prospering. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FRANCE, SPAIN, AND THE PAPACY. — 1 555-1558. 

In the year 1555, when the Diet of Augsburg con- 
firmed the religious settlement in Germany, Charles V. 
again found, as he had done before, that the ^ 

Opposition to 

policy of the Pope was guided by other Charles V. 
motives than a desire for the spread of Catho- *" ^ ^ 
licism. Pope Paul IV., Giovanni Piero Caraffa, was a 
Neopolitan by birth. He was of the age of eighty, and 
his mind was filled with the old Italian patriotism of his 
youthful days, when Italy had not yet fallen under 
foreign rule. He hated the Spaniards, and was de- 
termined to spare no pains in driving them out of Naples. 
He accordingly hastened to make an alliance with the 
French king for this purpose. 

Charles V., though not old in years, being only fifty- 
six, felt himself worn out in health and vigor, and shrunk 
from the prospect of another long- war. He . , , 

J • 1 1 /• • , ? Abdica- 

aetermmed therefore to resign his power to tion of 
his son Philip, and spend his remaining ^^^""'^^ ^• 
years in solitude. Charles had long ago formed this de- 
termination. His reign of thirty-six years had been one 
of ceaseless activity. He had never remained more than 



42 France, Spain, and the Papacy. A. D. 1557. 

a few months in one place, but had hastened, as need 
required, from one part of his vast dominions to another. 
To him, as to his son Phihp, power brought laborious 
duties which must be conscientiously fulfilled. Wishing 
to spend the last years of his life in quiet, and thinking 
that he had done all he could do, and that the time was 
favorable for his successor, Charles resigned, in 1556, 
the Netherlands, Spain, and his possessions in Italy to 
his son Phihp. He then retired to the monastery of 
Yuste in Estremadura, where he had prepared a house 
suitable to his needs. There he lived till the end of 
1558, engaged alternately in politics and devotion, 
eagerly watching the course of events in Europe, and 
helping Philip by his counsels. 

War soon broke out in Italy. The Pope quarrelled 
with the Spaniards, and called the French to his assist- 
- . ance, but both in Italv and in France the 

Successes of 

Philip II. cause of Philip prevailed. England was in- 

^'^^'^' duced to join in the war against France, and 

the Earl of Pembroke led 10,000 men to join Philip's army 
in the Netherlands. On August 10, 1557, the French 
were defeated decisively in an attempt to relieve the im- 
portant town of St. Quentin. The French army in Italy 
was hastily recalled, and the Pope, finding himself left 
to the mercy of Philip's viceroy in Naples, the celebrated 
Duke of Alva, was compelled to make peace. He re- 
ceived, however, the most favorable terms. The con- 
quering Alva knelt with the deepest reverence before 
the enemy he had overcome. It was impossible for 
the Spaniards to be long at enmity with the Pope. 

This war between Spain and the Pope had, however, 
important influence on England. If the Pope hated 
Pope Paul Philip, it was natural that some part of his 
Sigfa^ifd. hatred should fall on Philip's wife. Partly 



A.D. 1558. Loss of Calais. 43 

to annoy Mary, Paul IV. urged the restoration of 
the Church lands in England, and revoked the lega- 
tine powers of Cardinal Pole. Pole had succeeded 
Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury, and to him as 
much as to any man was the papal restoration in Eng- 
land due. But Paul IV. had always been opposed to 
Pole, for Pole, when at Rome, had sympathized with 
many of the Protestant doctrines, particularly with that 
of "justification by faith only." Pole was now dealt 
with as a suspected heretic, and a Franciscan friar of no 
reputation, the queen's confessor, was made papal legate 
in his stead. Mary saw that an attempt to recognise such 
a man as legate in England would be very disastrous. 
With something of her father's spirit, she threatened the 
old penalties of praemunire to any one who should intro- 
duce the Bull into England. The Pope pressed the 
matter no farther, but Mary and Pole felt sadly the po- 
sition in which they were placed. They were thwarted 
by the very power which it was the one object of their lives 
to serve, and they knew that the sight of this house di- 
vided against itself was destroying the confidence of the 
English people. 

But Mary's government soon received a severe shock. 
The French were anxious to strike some blow which 
might compensate for their defeat at Sh f Calais 

Quentin, and the decayed defences and 
scanty garrison of Calais invited their attack. In the 
winter of 1557-8 Calais was surprised, and the last pos- 
session of the English in France was lost. The loss was 
not in itself important, but the disgrace was deeply felt ; 
for the English claims to France were dear to every 
Englishman, and war with France on their account had 
always been popular. Now the last remnant of England's 
conquests was lost, and with it much of England's past 



44 France, Spain , and the Papacy. A.D. 1558. 

glory had fallen away. The loss of Calais was felt 
equally by the queen and the people. 

From every side disappointment and disaster closed 
over the last years of Mary's reign. Philip, to whom she 
Mary's failure was devotedly attached, had willingly left 
and death. England to administer his wide dominions. 
Mary's hopes of an heir, who should maintain the Spanish 
line on the English throne, had been disappointed. By the 
death of Gardiner she had been deprived of her most faith- 
ful minister. Pole, who had so long directed her ecclesiasti- 
cal policy had fallen into disgrace with the Pope. Abroad 
she met with disaster, and at home she was greeted with 
the murmurs and unconcealed discontent of her people. 
Mary's reign ended most sadly. Weighed down by dis- 
ease, which made her old before her time, she saw that 
all her plans had failed. She could not believe that plans 
to restore the religion in which she had such fervent faith 
could possibly fail to meet with the Divine favor. If 
they seemed to fail it was only because they were carried 
out half-heartedly. Catholicism must be more firmly 
established, and the Protestant heresy must be rooted 
out. So Mary urged religious persecution with greater 
zeal, and Pole, who was a humane man by nature, and 
always opposed extreme measures, was roused to perse- 
cution as a means of proving his orthodoxy. So it was 
that the persecutions of Mary's later years excited 
deeper popular disgust. They were urged on with 
greater zeal by the queen, just as the mass of the people 
had felt their first enthusiasm, which alone could make 
trials and executions tolerable to their consciences, grow 
cooler by further experience. Mary felt that she was 
hated by the people whose best interests she firmly be- 
lieved she was laboring to further. Anonymous letters 
were thrown before her, and were even hidden in her 



A, D- 1558. Death of Mary, 45 

books of devotion. She died on November 17, 1558, 
and Pole died within a few hours of his mistress. Both 
felt in their last hours that their work was likely to fall 
to the ground with them. 

Upon Mary's death EHzabeth came to the throne with- 
out any opposition. The Catholic party could not unite 
to exclude her, for it was weakened by the Accession of 
war between France and Spain. It was im- Elizabeth, 
possible for Philip to rejoice at the accession of Anne 
Boleyn's daughter to the English throne, but still less 
could he endure the other possible heir, Mary of Scot- 
land; for she was married to the Dauphin of France, 
and so her accession would throw England into opposi- 
tion to Spain. Moreover, Elizabeth's religious views 
were still a matter of conjecture; she had not expressed 
herself very strongly on either side, but, like the great 
mass of the people, had conformed to the established re- 
ligion under Edward VI. and Mary equally. Her incli- 
nations were towards Protestantism, but she was not 
fond of extremes. Philip still hoped that she might be 
won over to his side. He offered her his hand in marriage, 
and Elizabeth did not at once refuse, as she wished to feel 
her way at first, and avoid difficulties as much as possible. 

The condition of England was indeed very perilous. 
The treasury was empty, the revenue was anticipated, 
and there was a large debt. Trade was Ian- „ 

° Dangers of 

guishing, the coinage was debased, and the Elizabeth's po- 
Channel was swarming with pirates. The 
country was divided by religious struggles, and was en- 
gaged in a disastrous war with France, into which it had 
been plunged in the interest of Spain. Added to this, 
Elizabeth's legitimacy was doubted, and there was a pre- 
tender to the throne. It was clearly necessary to act at 
first with the greatest prudence and caution. 
D 



■ 1 

46 Ff-ance, Spain, and the Papacy, a. d. 1558. 

As regards religion, Elizabeth was not anxious to de- 
clare herself too soon. On the one hand she attended 
the mass service to please the Catholics ; on the other 
hand she forbade the elevation of the host to please the 
Protestants. But this impartial conduct was soon made 
impossible by the conduct of the Pope. Paul IV. grew 
no milder as he grew older, and had fallen still more 
under French influence. When Elizabeth's ambassador 
announced to him her accession, he answered that 
"Elizabeth, being illegitimate, could not ascend the 
throne without his consent ; it was impertinent on her 
part to do so. Let her, in the first place, submit her 
claims to his decision." 

Elizabeth had now no doubt about her line of action. 
She could not hope to strengthen herself against France 
Her atti- ^^^ Scotland by an alliance with Spain. For 
tilde Philip could not have married her without a 

towards ^ 

France and dispensation from the Pope, and she was the 
daughter of a marriage which the papacy 
could never forgive. To attempt to marry Philip would be 
to surrender her claim to the English throne into the hands 
of the Pope. She therefore rejected Philip's offer of mar- 
riage, and was consequently compelled to agree to peace 
with France at the price of leaving Calais in their hands. 
Philip II. was desirous of peace with France, for his trea- 
sury was empty, and it was hopeless for him to try and 
crush France entirely. Elizabeth, on her side, was afraid 
that Spain would make a separate peace, and leave her 
to carry on war with France single-handed. The peace of 
Citeau Cambresis, concluded on April 12, 1 559, left France 
in possession of Calais, as well as of Metz, Toul, and Ver- 
dun. Philip was content to secure the Alps as the bound- 
ary of his Italian possessions, by establishing once more the 
independence of Savoy and Piedmont under their duke. 



A. D. 1559- Elizabeth' s Religious Position. 47 

After this peace Elizabeth's hands were free. She 
was determined henceforth to act independently in politi- 
cal matters, to take her own line of action and maintain 
it, to trust to her people, and to support her own mea- 
sures by identifying them with her people's interests. It 
was in this that the significance of Elizabeth's reign lay. 
She was obliged by the isolation in .which she found her- 
self to throw herself entirely upon her people. Under her, 
therefore, England became again united, and took up 
once more a leading position among the nations of 
Europe. 



CHAPTER V. 

RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT IN ENGLAND. 

.'he first result of Elizabeth's experience of the papal 
plans was to force her to fall back upon the Protestant 
party in England. This party was becoming 
stronger day by day, owing to the return of rel^oSs 
many who had been driven into exile by the P^^'^'o*^- 
persecutions of Mary's reign. These men had mostly 
taken refuge in Geneva, and had there imbibed the 
opinions of Calvin. They came back deeply imbued with 
Calvin's system, and by their energy gained great in- 
fluence over the people. Elizabeth, and her chief adviser 
Cecil, were both of them reformers in the sense that they 
saw much that needed alteration in the old state of 
things ; but Ehzabeth could never bring herself to accept 
the revolutionary ideas of Calvin. She had more sym- 
pathy with her father's plan of maintaining the old 
Church system, but without any connexion with Rome. 



48 Religious Settlcjnent i7i England, a.d. 1559. 

She was also a great reader of the writings of the early 
fathers of the Church, and her plan was to free the 
English Church from the beliefs and practices which had 
sprung up in it through its relations to Rome, without 
altering the Catholic foundation on which it rested. 

In this plan, also, she had to proceed cautiously, for 
it was not a plan which could command popular enthu- 
siasm. It would not conciliate the Catholic party, and 
would not please the followers of Calvin. It could only 
be established by careful management and prudence. 
Concessions must be made to both the extreme parties 
if the plan was to succeed. It was in this way that the 
religious settlement under Elizabeth gave its peculiar 
character to the Church of England. 

Elizabeth began at once to take a middle course be- 
tween the Protestants and Catholics. She proclaimed 
that the old Services were to be continued 

Re-estab- 

Tshment of till Parliament met, and meanwhile spared 
ism.^ ^° " no efforts to secure the election of a subser- 
vient House of Commons. A commission 
of divines was appointed to revise the Prayer Book of 
Edward VI., so that no time should be lost in submitting 
to Parliament a scheme for the settlement of the religious 
difficulty. 

The Parliament, which met in 1559, re-established 
the royal supremacy over the Church, and enacted that 
an oath of recognition of the queen as supreme governor 
of her kingdom, in all causes spiritual as well as civil, 
should be imposed on all clergy and magistrates. The 
revised Prayer Book, which had been modified to suit 
the more moderate of those who adhered to the old state 
of things, was accepted by Parliament, and its use was 
enforced by the Act of Uniformity. 

These changes were violently opposed by the bishops, 



A. D. 1559- J^e-establishmetit of Protestantism. 49 

who counted on Elizabeth's weakness, and on the dis- 
content of the extreme reformers. They ^ 

... ,. Opposition 

were ordered to conduct a pubhc disputa- of the 
tion with some divines appointed by the '" °^^' 
queen. On refusing to continue the dispute and comply 
with the conditions prescribed to them, the chief amongst 
them were committed to the Tower. Soon after, they 
were deprived of their sees, and successors were ap- 
pointed of more Protestant opinions. Matthew Parker, 
who had been Anne Boleyn's chaplain, was made Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury. He was a man of moderate 
opinions, who held the same views as the queen on 
religious matters. He was strongly opposed to Calvinism, 
and held to Scripture, and the customs of the primitive 
Church. He was a man of great learning, and of strong 
common sense. The son of a tradesman in Norwich, 
he was a fair representative of the opinions and feelings 
of the middle classes. Archbishop Parker's moderation, 
caution, and good sense did much towards preserving 
the balance of parties, and establishing the English 
Church upon the broad basis of concession which so 
strongly marks it. 

Thus the Reformation was again established in Eng- 
land, and commissioners were sent through the country 
to inquire into its ecclesiastical condition, to administer 
the oath of supremacy, and see that the new laws were 
carried out. Very few of the clergy, besides the deposed 
bishops, refused to take the oath. The changes were, on 
the whole, popular and met with little opposition. 

Meanwhile, a change had taken place in the papacy. 
On the death of Paul IV., Cardinal d' Medici became 
Pope, as Pius IV. He was of a gentle and conciliatory 
nature, and his chief ambition was to see the schism 
brought to an end. He sent at once a nuncio to the 



50 Religions Settlement in England, a.d 1559. 

queen, offering to approve of the Book of Conmon 
Prayer and of the administration of the Commu'don in 
both kinds, provided only the Church of Englandwould 
again submit to the papal supremacy. But hi: offer 
came too late. It is impossible to say what wouk have 
been the result if this offer had been made by PaU IV. ; 
but the queen's choice had now been made, and s^ie had 
determined to side with the Protestants and separate 
herself from the alliance with Spain. The papal nuncio 
was not allowed to enter England. 

Thus the queen had taken up her position. She 
^^■ ^. ,-, wished to retain as much as possible of the 

Elizabeth's , ^ ,. . , r -X ■ 

ecciesiasti- old traditional system of religion ; but she 
ca system. ^ould havc none of the abuses that had 
resulted from papal supremacy and papal interference. 
She liked the old ceremonies, and was opposed to all the 
innovations of the Continental reformers. The system 
which she sanctioned was properly designed to ir elude 
the more moderate of the two religious parties ; but those 
who would not accept it were to be compelled to obe- 
dience. The queen exercised a jurisdiction in ecclesias- 
tical matters, and at first appointed commissioners to 
see that the law was properly carried out. These com- 
missioners grew into a permanent body, the Court of 
High Commission, for the trial of ecclesiastical cases, 
and the court thus instituted grew in later reigns into an 
instrument of serious oppression. At present, however, 
Protestants and Catholics alike had to obey. The 
Church of England became a national church. But it 
may be doubted whether the religious settlement under 
Elizabeth would have been so permanent, had not the 
events which followed connected it strongly with national 
feeling. Opposition to the papacy was shown to be a 
necessary safeguard of the national independence. The 



A . D . 1559. Elizabeth * s Difficulties. 5 1 

stirring events of Elizabeth's reign bound her people 
together, and demanded that they should offer a united 
front to their foes. The murmurs of the extreme Pro- 
testants were almost drowned in the general awakening 
of the national enthusiasm, and religious discord among 
the reformed did not assume any serious form until the 
more peaceful reign of her successor, when the reformed 
religion had become endeared to the sentiments and 
prejudices of the majority of Englishmen. 

At first, however, Elizabeth's position was very dan- 
gerous. At home were numbers of discontented, both 
Catholics and Protestants. Abroad, the 
claims of Mary of Scotland to the English difficulties, 
throne were warmly supported by France ; 
and Philip of Spain, alarmed at Elizabeth's conduct in 
the matter of religion, seemed disposed to sink his en- 
mity with France, and make common cause against her. 
Had France, Spain, and Scotland really united against 
England, Ehzabeth's throne could not have stood. But 
religious difficulties, which had not hitherto given these 
countries any serious trouble, began to arise, and Eliza- 
beth knew how to use the opportunities thus offered her. 
Her policy was not noble nor magnanimous ; but with 
an impoverished kingdom, a ruined navy, a feeble army, 
and an insecure position, noble policy was impossible. 
The queen was not free to follow her own inclinations 
even in the matter of her marriage. Parliament besought 
her to marry so as to settle the question of the succession 
to the throne. But it was hard for her to marry either a 
Catholic or a Protestant, without either putting herself at 
a disadvantage to Mary of Scotland, or sacrificing the 
strength of her political position. On the other hand, 
if she did not marry, Mary was looked upon as her suc- 
cessor. The Archduke Charles of Austria, the Earl of 



52 Religions Settlement in E?igland. a.d. 1560. 

Arran, and Eric, king of Sweden, were proposed to her 
as husbands ; but she preferred Robert Dudley, Earl of 
Leicester. Her reason kept her inclinations in check, 
and prevented her from making so unpopular a marriage. 
While she wavered, she used her other suitors as means 
for raising expectations among the politicians of Europe. 
Similarly, in other matters, she was content to raise 
hopes and balance parties against one another. She 
strove to give the least possible and receive the largest 
possible return. She made promises take the place of 
actions. We have to trace her tortuous course through 
her intricate relations with Scotland, France, and Spain, 
and see how she managed to steer herself and England 
clear of the dangers which threatened them. 



BOOK II. 

REFORMATION IN FRANCE &- SCOTLAND. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE REFORMATION MOVEMENT IN FRANCE AND SCOT- 
LAND, 1540-60. 

The Reformation movement, and the difficulties 
which it raised in the politics of every kingdom, gave 
rise to complications in France and Scotland of which 
Elizabeth took advantage to secure her own position. So 
long as a religious war did not break out in England it- 
self, Elizabeth could use the difficulties of neighboring 
States for her own purposes. So long as England re- 
mained united enough to make foreign interference dif- 
ficult, Elizabeth could balance parties, and help insur- 
gents in the kingdoms of her opponents. 

In France the conflict of rehgious opinions threatened 
to become serious, much more serious than it had been 
in Germany. Luther's Reformation was ^ 

conservative in principle. He wished to tion in 
alter as little as possible of the belief and 
practice of the old Church. While aiming at the re- 
moval of abuses, he was anxious to preserve the old 
framework. But in France the Reformers were not so 
much engaged in removing the abuses of the old state 
of things as endeavoring to discover for themselves a 

53 



54 The Reformation Movement, a.d. 15 41. 

new system of life, by which each man might reahze 
more entirely his own relationship to God. Hence the 
German Reformers did not awake such fierce opposition 
as did the Protestants in France. In Germany the Re- 
formation only demanded a few modifications of the 
existing political system ; in France it called for an en- 
tire change of national life. The principles on which 
French Protestantism was founded had far deeper root 
in the mind and character of the individual than had the 
teaching of Luther and Melanchthon. But here, as in all 
other things, the deeper principles had to meet with the 
more bitter antagonism. 

Protestantism in France had made considerable pro- 
gress under Francis I,, as the king himself, and his sis- 
ter Margaret, queen of Navarre, were in 

Francis I. ^ ^ ^ , ^ , ^ 

favor of some reforms. But when Francis 
I, failed in his political undertakings against Charles V., 
the intolerant spirit of his people was too strong for him 
to resist. The theologians of the College of Sorbonne, 
in the University of Paris, declared themselves violently 
for the old Church, and the popular opinion of the capi- 
tal was on their side. Francis I., though allied with 
the Protestant princes of Germany, and with the Turks 
abroad, was driven to persecute at home. Under Henry 
n. persecution was still more vigorously carried on, and 
the Protestant teachers were obliged to flee from France. 
Some of the chief of them took refuge at Geneva, a city 
in the dominions of the Duke of Savoy, among a 
French-speaking people. 

Geneva was in a state of political confusion. Its 
municipality claimed the right to regulate its internal 

„ ^ affairs ; but its bishop wished to assert his 

Reforma- ^ 

tion in powcr ovcr it, and the Duke of Savoy also 

desired to bring it into subjection. The 



-1558. John Calvin. 55 

citizens were opposed to the duke and bishop, and the 
ideas of the Reformers gave them a ground on which to 
rest their opposition. Protestantism first came to Gene- 
va through the German-speaking towns of the Swiss con- 
federates, where Luther's opinions had largely spread. 
But the French refugees were more in accordance with 
the spirit of the people, and Geneva became the centre 
of French Protestantism. Jean Chauvin, better known 
as John Calvin, a native of Picardy, acquired a great in- 
fluence over the affairs of the city. Once he was driven 
away by his enemies, but in 1 541 he returned, and from 
that time Geneva was the centre of his teaching. Cal- 
vinism aimed at completely establishing the connection 
of man with God by means of its doctrine of predestina- 
tion, according to which the Church consisted solely of 
those who had been from the beginning predestined to 
salvation. Starting from this conception, Calvin organ- 
ized the most rigorous church discipline, and enforced it 
by means of the government of the city. The greatest 
moral strictness was exacted, and Geneva, entirely un- 
der Calvin's influence, became a model for all the Pro- 
testant States. 

The example of Geneva naturally told most power- 
fully upon France. The Protestants in- Calvinism in 
creased in numbers in spite of the perse- France, 
cutions, and the wretched condition of the government 
Xmder Henry II. gave them still greater weight. The 
king abandoned everything to his favorites, who urged 
on the persecution as a means of gaining money for 
themselves. Ecclesiastical offices were given away as 
rewards for services done to the king, and men who had 
been pliant courtiers one day were seen officiating as 
bishops on the next. In this state of things morality 
was entirely on the side of the Protestants. They grew 



56 The Reformation Movement, a.d. 1559. 

in numbers, so that in 1558 they were reckoned at 400,- 
000, and eacli congregation organized itself on the 
principles which Calvin had laid down at Geneva. 

Henry II. was alarmed at this spread of Protestantism, 
and a desire to have his hands more free to attack it is 
Death of Said to have been one of the reasons which 

Henry II. made him ready to conclude the peace of 

Cateau Cambresis with Philip II. (April 2, 1559). He 
published severer edicts against Protestantism, and was 
suspected of a plan to help the Duke of Savoy to con- 
quer Geneva, when he was accidentally killed at a 
tournament (July 26, 1559), and a change came over 
the government of France. 

Francis II., who succeeded his father, was a boy of 
the age of sixteen, who, at the very beginning of his 

Power of the I'cign, gave up all his power to the bitterest 
Guises. enemy of the Protestants, Charles Guise, 

Cardinal of Lorraine. He was one of the six sons of 
Claude, Duke of Guise, who had been one of the bravest 
generals of Francis I.* These six sons were to play a 
most important part in French history. All of them 
were full of vigor and energy, all of them were staunch, 
we may say fanatical, Catholics, and lost no opportunity 
of carrying out their convictions. Francis, Duke of 
Guise, the elder brother of the cardinal, had already 
made himself a name in France by the capture of Calais 
James V. of Scotland had married the cardinal's sister, 
and Mary of Scotland was his niece. It was through 
her marriage to Francis II. that the Cardinal of Lorraine 
had gained his great influence with the king. He was, 
moreover, justly popular with the people, — a man of 
commanding presence, great affability, ready eloquence, 

* See genealogical table, p. 169. 



A.D. 1542. Condition of Scotland. 57 

unblemished moral character, unwearied zeal in dis- 
charging the duties of his archbishopric, and a high 
reputation for sanctity. Now that he had power in his 
hands, he set three main objects before himself, — the 
suppression of Protestantism, hostihty to England, and 
the establishment of the power of his own family. 

Thus it was by the Cardinal's advice that Francis II. 
and Mary assumed at once the title and arms of England. 
Mary's claims were to be asserted against 
Elizabeth ; Protestantism was to be crushed En|fS *° 
in England as well as in France, and the 
influence of the Guises was to be supreme - in both 
countries. 

Elizabeth knew that Philip would lend no help to 
carry out such plans as these ; but the Pope was likely 
to combine in their favor all staunch Catholics who 
were ready to move at the papal command. It was 
through Scotland that the blow against England would 
first be struck. Elizabeth's plan was to avoid it by help- 
ing the discontented in France and Scotland alike, so as 
to employ the cardinal's energies at home. 

We have seen the condition of France. Scotland was 
equally inflammable on the question of religion, while 
the power of the crown was much less than 
in France. The Scottish nobles were at the icotland. 

head of the powerful clans, and the continu- 
al border warfare with England had kept alive their 
military spirit. The king, on the other hand, had but 
small revenues, and no army at his command. Hence, 
to obtain greater power, the Crown had allied itself with 
the Church, and had been wiUing to enrich the clergy 
as a means of diminishing the importance of the nobles. 
The Scottish Church was wealthy and corrupt, and when 
Henry VIII. of England endeavored to prevail on James 



58 The Reformation Movement, a. d. 1557 

V. of Scotland to join with him in his reforming plans, 
the Scottish clergy in alarm bought off the king's com- 
pliance, and stirred him up to the war with England 
v/hich cost him his life (1542). But the suppression of 
the monasteries and confiscation of church property in 
England had wrought a great impression in Scotland, J 
and the clergy felt themselves insecure. Persecution! 
awoke the most bitter passions, and the burning of I 
George Wishart, one of the most popular of the reform- 1 
ing preachers, brought a terrible punishment on the 
persecutor. Cardinal Beaton, the primate, was murdered 
in the castle of St. Andrew's (1546), and for fourteen 
months the castle was held against the regent. The 
policy, however, of England towards Scotland, and the 
disastrous battle of Pinkie (1547), compelled the Scots to | 
look to France for help, and so strengthened the Catho- 1 
lie party. French troops were brought in greater num- 
bers to Scotland, and in 1554 the queen-mother, Mary of 
Lorraine, sister of the Cardinal of Lorraine, was made 
regent. 

The Scots, however, were soon impatient of French 

influence over them, and disliked the foreigners whom 

the regent put in power. They felt that 

French in tliough it might be uscful for them to play 

Scotland. „,_, , . -__,., 

off the French agamst the English so as to 
secure their independence, still if they were to be de- 
pendent on one or the other, the English were more 
nearly related to them than the French. On one side 
was an alliance with France and Catholicism; on the 
other side an alliance with England and Protestantism. 
Here, as in Geneva, national feeling united with 
religious conviction, and Protestantism became the 
symbol of antagonism to the French dominion. In 1557 
a powerful political party was formed of those who were 



-1559* John Knox. 59 

in favor of ecclesiastical reform. It was a party which 
came together with different objects. Some were in 
favor of Protestant doctrines ; some hoped for a share of 
church lands ; some wished to raise a party against 
French influence. But all combined to sign a bond, in 
accordance with an old Scottish practice, pledging them- 
selves to work together for a common purpose. This 
bond is known as the First Covenant, and those who 
signed it agreed to demand that the EngHsh Book of 
Common Prayer be used in the churches, and that 
Protestant preaching be allowed. 

For a while nothing definite was done; but in 1558 
the burning of an old preacher, Walter Mill, at St. 
Andrew's, aroused the Lords of the Gongre- „ ,. . 

, . f ^ ^ Religious 

gation, as the signers of the Covenant now struggles ia 
called themselves. They presented their 
demands to the regent, and some time was spent in use- 
less discussion. But the hands of the Reformers were 
strengthened by Elizabeth's accession in England, and 
on May 2, 1559, the leading spirit of the Scottish Refor- 
mation, John Knox, returned to Scotland. 

Knox had been born in Glasgow in the year 1505. He 
had had a good education, and had taken up Protestant- 
ism with the fire and fervor of a severe and 

■XT /• 1 1 1 1 n John Knox. 

Stern nature. He was one of those who held 
the Castle of St. Andrew's after the murder of Cardinal 
Beaton, and on its capture had been sent as a prisoner 
to serve in the French galleys. After nineteen months 
of suffering, which only intensified the depth and narrow- 
ness of his convictions, he succeeded in escaping. For 
a while he lived in England, where he published a fierce 
attack upon Mary, called the " Monstrous Regiment of 
Women," Then he joined Calvin in Geneva, and 
learned from him the principles which he afterwards 



6o The RefonnaHo7i Movement. a.d. 1559 

labored to enforce. It was Knox's influence which 
turned the Scottish Reformation from following in the 
steps of the English movement, and impressed upon it 
the more rigid and severe form which had been thought 
out by Calvin. Knox came back to Scotland profoundly- 
convinced of the truth of his own convictions, and 
determined to carry them out at any hazard. He was 
keen, shrewd, and clear-sighted, a man not likely to put 
himself or his opinions at the mercy of political contin- 
gencies, but determined to use politics for his own pur- 
poses. Those who joined him to gain their own ends, 
found that he was more than their match. Utterly fear- 
less, never giving way for an instant, not to be deterred 
by threats or won over by fair promises, he went upon 
his own course. He was convinced that to put down 
popery was his highest duty, and no feelings of sympa- 
thy for others, no restraints of decorum, no compassion 
for human weakness, was allowed to stand in his way. 
Hard, cold, and austere, yet with a grim humor and a 
rare power of clear and ready eloquence, he was the 
terror of those in power and the constant favorite of the 
people. 

Knox's influence was soon felt in the course of affairs. 
In May, 1559, the regent, stirred to action by the Cardi- 
Oppositionto nal of Lorraine, summoned the reformed 
the regent. clergy to Stirling. They came, but sur- 
rounded by so many followers, that the regent was afraid, 
and promised that if they would disperse she would pro- 
ceed no further. They agreed ; but scarcely were they 
gone before Mary caused the preachers to be tried and 
condemned in their absence. Knox's anger broke out 
in a fierce sermon against idolatry, preached at Perth. 
The people of the town rose and destroyed the images 
in the churches, and tore down all architectural orna- 



-1560. Elizabeth and Scotland. 61 

ments which contained sculpture. The example of Perth 
was followed elsewhere, and the churches of Scotland 
were soon robbed of their old beauty. From this time 
we must date the decay of the fine ecclesiastical build- 
ings of Scotland, whose ruins still bear witness to their 
former splendor. They were not of course destroyed at 
once ; but they were stripped bare and left to mouldef 
unheeded. The stern spirit of the Scottish Reformation 
would not consent to offer the new simple worship, of 
which men's consciences approved, in the old buildings 
which had been profaned by idolatrous rites. 

The lords of the Congregation were now in open 
rebellion against the regent, and war was on the point 
of breaking out. It was, however, averted for a time by 
the mediation of a few moderate men, amongst whom 
was Lord James Stewart, an illegitimate son of the late 
king, known in later history as the Earl of Murray. Both 
parties agreed to lay down their arms, and submit their 
disputes to a meeting of the Estates of the Realm, while 
the regent promised not to molest the people of Perth, or 
garrison the town with French soldiers. She kept the 
letter only of her promise ; for she hired native troops 
with French money, and proceeded to punish the people 
of Perth. This perfidy gave strength to the Congrega- 
tion. They again took up arms, seized Edinburgh, sum- 
moned a parliament, and deposed the regent (October, 

1559); 

This was a bold step ; but without help from England 
it could not be maintained. As the regent was strong in 
French troops, the Congregation must ally Elizabeth and 
with England. Elizabeth wished to help Scotland. 
them ; but her course was by no means clear. To ally 
with rebels fighting against their lawful sovereign was a 
bad example for one in Elizabeth's position to set. She 
E 



62 The Reformation Movement, a.d. 1560. 

herself had many enemies abroad who were wiUing 
enough to interfere in the affairs of England, and many 
of her subjects recognized her as queen only by virtue 
of her legal title, which they would be willing enough to 
set aside. Elizabeth's ministers were less cautious than 
herself; but Cecil's political wisdom was never allowed 
to act till Elizabeth had provided for her own position in 
case of failure. 

At last, in January, 1560, a treaty was made at Ber- 
wick between Elizabeth and the Duke of Chatelherault, 
the second person in the Scottish realm. Elizabeth un-. 
dertook to aid the Scottish lords in expelling the French, 
but would only aid them so long as they acknowledged 
their queen. 

And now a strange change had come over Scotland. 
The Scots were fighting side by side with the English 
War against against their old allies the French. Already 
the French. their rcligious feelings had overcome their 
old national animosities ; or rather, religion itself had 
become a powerful element in their national spirit. 
The war, however, was for a while indecisive. The 
French troops held the fortress of Leith, and, though 
blockaded by an English fleet, still managed to repulse 
the attacks of their assailants. It was doubtful whether 
Elizabeth would be prevailed upon to send troops enough 
to secure success for the Scottish lords. 

But meanwhile affairs in France took a direction 
favorable to the Reformers. The Cardinal of Lorraine 
Conspiracy of ^ad offended the nobles by his exclusion of 
Amboise. them from State affairs, and by his en- 

deavors to secure all the power for his kinsmen. France 
was deeply in debt, and there were many murmurs 
against the oppressive taxes which were levied solely to 
further the family interests of the Guises in securing their 



A.D. 1560. Troubles in France, 63 

hold on Scotland. To these grievances was added the 
disaffection of the Protestants. The combined result of 
all these causes of discontent was a plan to seize the 
young king at Amboise, deprive the Guises of their 
power, and entrust the management of affairs to the 
next princes of the blood, the Prince of Conde and the 
King of Navarre. The king, it was urged, was only 
sixteen, and ought to be delivered from evil counsellors. 
The plan was badly carried out, and entirely failed. 
The hastily gathered troops who hurried to Amboise 
were easily repelled (March, 1560). They were called 
Huguenots, meaning apparently a crowd hastily gather- 
ing. From this time the name passed on to the French 
Protestants in general. 

But though this attempt failed, it showed the cardi- 
nal how great were the dangers he had to face. The 
French troops were needed at home, and 

^ French re- 

could no longer be spared for Scotland. The called from 
withdrawal of the French made peace neces- 
sary in Scotland, and by the treaty of Edinburgh (July, 
1560), it was provided that henceforth no foreigners 
should be employed in Scotland without the consent of 
the estates of the realm. Elizabeth's policy was rewarded 
by a condition that Mary and Francis II. should acknow- 
ledge her queen of England, lay aside their own preten- 
sions, and no longer wear the British arms. Before the 
treaty was signed the queen-regent died (June 20), and 
with her the power of France and the Guises in Scotland 
was gone for the present. 

The Congregation was now triumphant, and the work 
of Reformation was quickly carried on. A meeting of 
the Estates approved of the Geneva Confes- 
sion of Faith; abjured the authority of the Reforma- 
Pope, and forbade the administration, or '^°°' 



64 TJie Reformation Movement, a.d. 15 61. 

presence at the administration of the mass, on pain of 
death for the third offence (August 25, 1560). 

Meanwhile the Guises were powerless to prevent this. 
In France the Huguenots demanded toleration, and 
Affairs in their demand had been supported by Admiral 
France. Coligny. Cardinal Guise was preparing for 

more vigorous measures, when his plans were cut short 
by the death of the young king, at the age of seventeen 
(December 4, 1560). He was succeeded by his brother, 
Charles IX., a boy of ten, about whose minority there 
could be no doubt. The queen-mother, Catherine de 
Medici, was recognized as regent, and the princes of the 
blood were called back again to the council. France 
was divided by factions, each striving for power. Cathe- 
rine was a Florentine, who had been ill-treated by her 
husband and neglected by her son, who hated the 
Guises, and would shrink from nothing which would 
help her to get power into her own hands. Now that 
she had obtained a position in the State it seemed as 
though she were determined to avenge her former se- 
clusion, and satisfy her pent-up greed for power. Next 
to her was Antony, king of Navarre, an honest, well- 
meaning, genial man, who strongly favored Protes- 
tantism. Against both of these were the Guises, with a 
strong party of zealous Catholics, wishing for an oppor- 
tunity to carry out their plans. 

France was on the eve of the outbreak of a war in 
which the passions of parties and factions were strangely 
mingled with religious feelings. England and Scotland had 
nothing more to fear from that side for some time to come. 
The plans of the Guises were no longer to be carried on 
in Scotland and England by armed interference, but 
by the political craft and cunning of their niece, Mary 
of Scotland, who had been trained under their influence. 



A. D. 1 5 6 1 . Character of Mary, 65 



CHAPTER II. 

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 

Mary was left a widow at the age of eighteen ; but sne 
had gained a poUtical experience far beyond her years. 
Her French education had almost done away ^ -^^ 
all traces of her Scottish birth. She had re- France, 
ceived to the full the lessons of graceful refinement for 
which the French court since the times of Francis I. had 
become famous, and amongst its beautiful and brilliant 
ladies she gained a reputation as one of the most beautiful 
and most accomplished. In religion and politics she was 
a Catholic, attached to the schemes of her uncles the 
Guises. In the atmosphere of intrigue in which she had 
moved, she had learned the arts of dissimulation. She 
knew how to throw over her deep-laid plans a veil of 
charming artlessness. She knew how to use for her own 
purposes her great natural gifts, and to employ her per- 
sonal charms as a means of working out her political 
plans. Never has there been a sovereign whose public 
and private life have been so entirely mixed together. 
Political plans seem to have had no attraction for her 
unless they had a dash of personal feeling and personal 
adventure. The enjoyments of private life gave her no 
pleasure unless she were working through them upon 
unconscious agents towards the furtherance of her great 
ends. 

At first her character was unknown in England, and it 
was of the greatest importance to Elizabeth to know how 
far she might look on Mary as a friend. Her ,, 

. . . _, . - Mary comes 

mmisters m Pans urged upon Mary the to Scotland, 
signature of the treaty of Edinburgh, ac- 



66 Mary Queen of Scots. a.d. 1561. 

knowledging Elizabeth as queen of England. Mary re- 
fused to sign this, and her address in giving excuses for 
her refusal first convinced Elizabeth of the power of the 
enemy with whom she had to do. Till the treaty was 
signed, Elizabeth refused Mary a passage through Eng- 
land on her return to Scotland. Mary showed her brave- 
ry by sailing from Calais to Leith, though the Channel 
was full of English cruisers. She landed safely in Scot- 
land in the middle of August, 1561. 

The Scots received her with enthusiasm ; for their 
chivalrous feelings were awakened by the sight of their 
young queen, as she stood before them in her beauty 
and grace. To Mary, accustomed to the splendid pa- 
geantry of the French court, the attempts of the Scots 
to welcome her seemed rough and rude. She had left 
behind her all the graces of the French court, and had 
come amongst a rugged and proud people, to whom 
subserviency was unknown, and who were heedless of 
decorum. The common people thronged about her with 
easy familiarity as she went to Edinburgh ; the nobles 
were rude and boisterous, and cared little how they 
showed their respect ; the queen had no royal army to 
meet her, no body-guard nor band of courtiers. 

Nothing shows more forcibly the great strength of 
mind and firmness of resolution which Mary possessed 
than does the way in which she comprehended her posi- 
tion and resolutely adapted herself to it. Though sur- 
rounded with difficulties, a young queen come to govern, 
without any real power, a people almost strangers to her, 
alone amongst men with whom she had no sympathies. 
Catholic amongst a Protestant people — still she bravely 
set her face to do the work on which she had deter- 
mined. 

Full of ambition, she had many chances before her. 



A.D . 1 5 6 1 . Elizabeth and Mary. 6 7 

If the Catholics prevailed in France, she might rely on 
help from that country. If there were any ^^^.^ ^^^^^^ 
movement of Catholics in England, it must 
be in her name. If anything were to befall Elizabeth, 
she was the next heir to the English throne. The future 
was full of possibilities. Meanwhile she must win the 
good-will of the Scots,— perhaps she might even succeed 
in winning them back to Catholicism ; anyhow she must 
have Scotland at her control as a safe starting-point for 
her further plans. 

Elizabeth could not penetrate Mary's designs ; she 
could only suspect them, and Mary's refusal to ratify the 
treaty of Edinburgh confirmed her in her suspicion. 
She felt herself checked on every side by Mary, whose 
position in Scotland was undisputed, whose ^u^abeth's re- 
claims to England were maintained by lations to 

, , . , ^ . Mary, 

many, and whose right of succession was 
admitted by almost all. Elizabeth would most probably 
have wished for a peaceable alliance with Mary, whose 
right to the succession would then have been recognized. 
But she could not admit the right of succession until the 
claim to present possession was laid aside. Mary on 
her part would not give up an existing claim, to gain a 
doubtful benefit in the future. Meanwhile Elizabeth 
could neither admit nor reject Mary's right of succes- 
sion without injuring herself. She could not marry with- 
out putting herself at a disadvantage as compared with 
Mary. If she married a Protestant, the Catholics, being 
deprived of the hope of a Catholic successor, would be 
drawn closer to Mary. If she married a Catholic, it 
would be distasteful to the Protestants, and she would 
by such a marriage, sacrifice much of the independence 
not only of her personal but of her political position. 
There is no doubt that she wished to marry Robert Dud- 



68 Mary Queen of Scots. a.d. 1562. 

ley, ilari jf Leicester, the younger son of John Dudley, 
Earl of Northumberland, who had played so great a 
part in the events of Edward VI. 's reign. But she felt 
that she could not marry a subject without lowering her 
position in Europe ; it would, in fact, be preferring her 
own gratification to the nation's good. As she could not 
marry to her liking, she used her marriage projects as a 
means for diplomatic shuffling. 

So, for a few years, history seems almost to be con- 
cerned with the personal contest of these two queens ; 
for they summed up in their own persons 

Characters •' . ^. . , . ^^, 

of Elizabeth the Opposite tendencies of the time. They 
^'^* were opposed in eager rivalry, each ready 
to take advantage of the other's mistakes. Both of them 
were highly gifted women ; both were ambitious and 
with great plans for the future. Mary was more graceful, 
more winning, with greater subtlety and quickness. 
Elizabeth was more imperious, more cautious, with 
greater foresight and prudence. Both of them were 
utterly unscrupulous and deceitful, ready to use any 
instrument in their way, and careless of everything but 
the success of their plans. But their plans had this 
difference : Ehzabeth was identified in her interests 
with the nation over which she ruled, and though she 
might at times be capricious, yet in the end her sense 
of duty towards her people prevailed over her purely 
personal desires. She lied, and plotted, and quibbled ; 
but it was to gain, at the least possible cost to her people, 
some object which was for her people's good. Mary, 
on the other hand, had no sympathy with the Scottish 
character ; her ends were purely selfish, and her plans 
were simply laid for the increase of her own greatness. 
Hence it was that she failed. In the crisis of her for- 
tunes her sensual nature was too strong for her political 



A.D. 1562. Religious Wars in France, 69 

cunning; the desire for gratification at the moment 
overcame the desire for future success; she Hved for 
herself alone, and sacrificed her future to her present. 

At first Mary's government was one of wise modera- 
tion, under the guidance of her half-brother, Lord James 
Stewart, who was created Earl of Murray. 
The queen succeeded in gaining toleration moderation. 
for her own Catholic worship, and the mode- 
rate party gradually increased. One great reason of this 
was that the new clergy were discontented at not re- 
ceiving the lands of the old Church. One-third of these 
lands went to the Crown for the payment of the new 
clergy ; but the other two-thirds were left in the hands of 
the laymen who had managed during the disturbances 
to get possession of them. 

Mary was not content with mere moderation. When 
the plans of the Earl of Huntley, who still headed the 
Catholics in the north of Scotland, were suspected by the 
governrnxcnt, Mary accompanied the Earl of Murray on 
an expedition against him (1562). She rode gaily on 
horseback, and enjoyed to the full the excitement of a 
martial undertaking. Huntley was killed ; the power of 
his clan, that of the Gordons, was broken, and Catholi- 
cism was driven out of the north. Mary felt that her 
time was not yet come, and meanwhile she would not 
risk her future success by maintaining her principles in 
an untimely way. 

The reason for this dissimulation was, no doubt, the 
unfavorable turn which affairs had taken in France. The 
Protestants had used the dissensions between Beginning of 
the queen-mother and the Guises as a means wa^s'^tn^'""^ 
of bettering their own position. At a meet- France. 
ing of the Estates, held at St. Germain on January 5, 
1562, it was agreed that a legal position should be granted 



70 Mary Queen of Scots. a.d. 1562. 

to the Protestants ; their preaching was allowed within 
certain limits, and all penalties against them were sus- 
pended. 

But though this might be a politic measure, it awoke 
most bitter feelings in the minds of the fanatical Catho- 
lics, at whose head stood Francis, Duke of Guise. Tole- 
ration was impossible when men's passions were so vio- 
lent. Two hostile bodies could not live peaceably in the 
same land. The hatred against the Protestants blazed 
forth in the massacre by Guise's followers of a Huguenot 
congregation at Vassy, who had assembled under the 
protection of the recent edict. The massacre was not 
deliberate, but the angry soldiers rushed upon the de- 
fenceless crowd, and Guise approved of the deed 
(March i, 1562). When Guise arrived in Paris he was 
received with enthusiasm by the people of the city. His 
friends gathered round him, and he was soon more pop- 
ular than the king himself. 

The Catholic feeling was stronger in France than 
Catherine had supposed. She was a politician, and 
cared nothing about religion in itself. She had tried 
moderation, but the Catholic party showed itself stronger 
and more zealous. For the present she lent it the king's 
name. 

The object of the Catholic confederates was to revoke 
gradually the edict of toleration, beginning first with the 
chief towns. They succeeded in winning over to their 
side Antony, king of Navarre, by promises of the resto- 
ration of his kingdom, which, since 15 12, had been in 
the hands of Spain. But the other head of the Huguenot 
party, Antony's brother Louis, Prince of Conde, remained 
true to his principles. Though a man of easy, careless 
character, whose life was by no means marked by Hu- 
guenot severity, he still believed Protestantism in the 



A.D. 1563. Pacification in France. 71 

bottom of his heart. He did not hesitate to accept the 
challenge offered. Declaring that the queen-mother and 
the young king were kept in captivity by the Guises, he 
took up arms for their liberation. 

Conde was not strong enough, however, to wage war 
by himself. He applied to Elizabeth for help, which she 
cautiously and sparingly gave, after having 
demanded as a condition the surrender of helps the 
Havre-de-Gr^ce into her hands. As before "^" " 

she had defeated the plans of the Guises by an alliance 
with the rebel nobles of Scotland, so now she would 
do her utmost to prevent the Guises from helping Mary, 
by forming an alliance with the rebellious Huguenots of 
France. 

The war centered in Normandy, and at first was un- 
favorable to the Huguenots. On December 19, 1562, 
Conde was defeated and taken Prisoner at Dreux, and 
the Duke of Guise undertook the siege of Orleans, the 
most important town which the Huguenots held. But 
fanaticism was not solely on the Cathohc side. A young 
Huguenot, Poltrot de Merey, had convinced himself that 
he would be doing a deed acceptable to God if he could 
rid the earth of the persecutor of his brethren. He con- 
trived to assassinate the Duke of Guise before Orleans, 
February 24, 1563. Already had the religious war in 
France awakened feelings of the bitterest kind, and 
swept away the ordinary principles which regulate the 
dealings between man and man. The violence and an- 
imosity which have always marked French party quar- 
rels found in these religious contests their most awful 
expression. 

Now that Conde was in prison, and Guise pacification 
was dead, the queen-mother again came in France, 
forward to urge moderation. She patched ^^ ^" 



72 Mary Queen of Scots. A. d. 1565. 

up a reconciliation, and the edict of Amboise (March 19, 
1563,) gave the Protestants the right to worship in all 
towns where they worshipped at present, except Paris, 
which was too bigotedly Catholic to tolerate their pre- 
sence. A truce was agreed to between the two con- 
tending parties, though it clearly could not be of long 
duration. But at first the national spirit prevailed. 
Catherine was able to unite both factions for the recovery 
of Havre, which was easily won back from the English, 
and Elizabeth was compelled to make peace. 

For the next few years, however, the party of the 
Guises gradually grew stronger in France, owing partly 
to the spread of the order of the Jesuits, and in part to 
the influence of Phihp II. of Spain, who dreaded the in- 
fluence of the French Protestants upon the Netherlands. 
He was urgent that the queen-mother should Join with 
him in taking common measures for the suppression of 
heresy. Catherine, who dreaded Spanish interference in 
France, refused to move from her policy of moderation. 

In proportion as the Guise influence advanced in 
France, so did Mary in Scotland begin to act more 
^ . - decidedly. Her marriage was a great means 

Question of •' o t> -^ 

Mary's by which the Guises might increase their 

marriage. . . . 

position in Europe, and many negotiations 
were entered into on the subject. First, Don Carlos, 
son of Philip II., was proposed to Mary; but apparently 
his father was already afraid of the ungovernable temper 
of the youth, and the match was strongly opposed by 
Catherine de Medici who intrigued to prevent it. If 
Mary had married Don Carlos, the Reformation would 
have been at once put down in Scotland, which would 
have again become the quarter from which a Catholic 
onslaught might be made on England. When this 
project fell through, Elizabeth urged Mary's marriage 



A. D. 1565. Marriage of Mary, 73 

with her own favorite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 
and offered, if this marriage were contracted, to recognise 
Mary as her successor in England. But Mary knew 
that by her marriage with a Protestant and an English sub- 
ject she would have made herself forever harmless to 
Elizabeth, and would have destroyed the political influ- 
ence of her position. 

Mary saw no chance of securing her recognition in 
England, either by agreement with Elizabeth, or by help 
from Spain. She must take her own measures, and 
trust to her own skill. She felt that she had made her- 
self personally popular in Scotland by her winning 
manners, and she knew that the fanatical intolerance of 
Knox and his followers had created a Catholic reaction 
amongst all the more moderate men. Mary thought 
that she could now afford to show her real colors, and 
therefore on July 29,1565, she married her cousin, Henry 
Stewart, Lord Darnley. 

This marriage was a blow to the Protestant party, as 
Darnley was a Catholic. Murray and his followers re- 
garded it as a menace, and at once took up arms, but 
they were not joined by recruits as they had expected. 
They were powerless against the levies which the king 
and queen brought against them, and were driven to 
take refuge in England. Elizabeth also felt herself 
threatened by this marriage of Mary; for Darnley's 
mother was a grand-daughter of Henry VH. of England, 
and by taking him as husband, Mary had strengthened 
her own claim to the English succession. 

Mary's position was now most formidable to Eliza- 
beth. The Catholic lords were recalled in Scotland, and 
everywhere throughout Europe Catholicism ^ . ,. 
began to raise its head. It was generally plans in 
believed that an understanding had been ^'^°^^^°'^- 



74 



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A. D. 1566. Darnlefs Discontent. 75 

come to between France and Spain for the suppression 
of Protestantism. So alarmed was Elizabeth at the 
general aspect of affairs that she received Murray in the 
presence of the French and Spanish ambassadors, 
scolded him for rebelling against his lawful sovereign, 
and extorted from him a statement, which deceived no 
one, that she had had no share in his rebellion. Mary- 
was now triumphant. If only the fear of the political 
influence of Protestantism could overcome the national 
jealousy of France and Spain, Mary hoped that a great 
Catholic expedition would soon be made against Eng- 
land in her name. 

But Mary's triumph was destined to be brief. Her 
marriage with Darnley was an unhappy one. He was 
vain, dissolute, presumptuous, and foolish, and carnley's 
could neither help his wife by his counsels, discontent, 
nor recognize her superiority and obey. His vices out- 
raged her feelings, and his conduct was restrained by 
no care for decorum. Their quarrel was notorious to 
all, and those who were discontented with Mary began to 
gather round Darnley. Parliament was to meet in 
March, 1566, and Murray and the banished lords must 
then either appear and make good their cause or be 
outlawed and lose their estates. 

Darnley then agreed to make common cause with 
the chiefs of the Protestant party. He entered into a 
bond to do his best to have Murray and the rest recalled. 
But he too was to have his own wrongs redressed ; he 
entered into another bond to have " certain privy persons 
cut off, wicked and ungodly, not regarding her majesty's 
honor, but seeking their own commodity, especially a 
stranger Italian called Davie." Darnley was seized with 
jealousy of the queen's confidential secretary, David 
Rizzio, who was her instrument for her secret intrigues 



76 Mary Queen of Scots. A. D. 1566. 

with foreign powers, and who, through his late increase 
of importance, had given himself airs which deeply 
offended the proud Scottish nobles. Darnley thought 
that if Rizzio's influence was gone, he himself would be 
supreme. 

So, on the evening of March 9, 1566, as Mary was 
seated in her chamber at Holyrood, with a few attend- 
Murder of ^.nts, engaged in talk with Rizzio and Lady 
Rizzio. Argyle, Darnley entered, and spoke fami- 

liarly with the queen. He was soon followed by Lord 
Ruthven, in full armor, with pale and haggard face, 
since he had dragged himself from a bed of sickness to 
do this deed of blood. " It would please your majesty," 
he grimly said, " to let yonder man Davie come forth 
of your presence, for he hath been over long there." 
His meaning was at once clear. Rizzio, in terror, seized 
the queen's gown. More armed men rushed in. Rizzio 
was rudely detached, and Mary was thrust into her hus- 
band's arms. The wretched Italian was dragged to the 
chamber door, stabbed, and his body thrown down 
stairs. When the attendants of the palace hurried to 
the spot, they were dismissed by Darnley, who owned 
the deed as his own. 

On the next day Murray and the banished lords re- 
turned. Mary had heard Rizzio's fate, and saw at once 
the meaning of the plot laid against her. But her strong 
and subtle nature rose with the danger. She listened to 
Darnley's excuses and professed to forgive him. She 
received the banished lords, and pretended to be recon- 
ciled to them. But meanwhile she knew that the Earl 
of Huntley, and James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, both 
devoted to her cause, had made their escape and were 
raising troops. By a bold stroke of policy she won over 
Darnley by her blandishments, managed to dissociate him 



A. D. 1566. Rise of Bothwell. 77 

from his confederates, and prevailed on the feeble plot- 
ter to disavow his share in Rizzio's murder. Then, hav- 
ing thus secured Darnley, she fled with him secretly on 
the night of March 12, to Dunbar, where Bothwell joined 
her with the forces which he had raised. On March 28, 
Mary returned to Edinburgh, and the rebel lords again 
fled before her. Again she was restored to power, and 
the birth of a son, afterward James I. of England, on 
June 19, added still more to the strength of her position. 
It held out the prospect of an assured line of succession 
if Mary's claim to England were recognized. When 
Elizabeth heard of it she burst into tears at the contrast 
between her own solitary condition and her rival's 
growth in power. " The Queen of Scots," she ex- 
claimed, *' is the mother of a fair son, and I am a barren 
stock." 

But meanwhile the conduct of Darnley had made 
him contemptible to every one. Mary did not disguise 
her hatred for him, when once he had Rise of 

served her purpose of depriving the rebel Bothwdl. 

lords of any lawful head. His confederates, whom he 
had weakly deserted, could no longer trust him. He 
had no claims on the Protestants, and to the Catholics 
Mary was the natural head. He wandered about the 
court, despised by all, pouring out his complaints to any 
one who would listen to him. Once he talked of fleeing 
to France, but was prevented, as that would have caused 
a scandal. There was talk of a divorce between him 
and the queen ; but this, too, would have raised unplea- 
sant questions. 

Mary, on her part, gave all her confidence to Both- 
well, who had come to her aid at Dunbar. She gave 
him the rich abbey lands of Melrose and Haddington, 
and conferred on him the offices of Lord High Admiral 

F 



78 Mary Queen of Scots. a.d. 1567. 

and Warden of the Scottish Borders. By these means 
he had become the most powerful man in the kingdom, 
and having won so much, hoped to win still more. 
Mary was greatly under his influence. After the trials 
and excitment she had gone through, she seems to have 
lost some of her force and power of self-reliance. She 
threw herself upon Bothwell, and her feelings towards 
him became more and more passionate. Bothwell 
formed a scheme for marrying the queen, though she 
already had a husband and he a wife. 

Darnley was first got rid of, but in a way so clumsy 
that it could scarcely hope to escape detection. He had 
Murder of been attacked by small-pox, and was re- 
Darniey. moved to Glasgow, to be tended by his 

father, Lennox. When he was somewhat recovered, the 
queen paid him a visit, and arranged that he should 
come back, not to Holyrood, but to a place close to the 
city wall, called Kirk-of- Field. On the evening of Feb- 
ruary 9, 1567, the house was blown up by gunpowder, 
while Mary was at a ball at Holyrood, and Darnley was 
found dead in the garden. 

Mary was now a widow, but it was at once suspected 
by every one that Bothwell had been the author of 
Darnley's death. Mary affected to believe that it was a 
plot against herself, which she had fortunately escaped. 
But the voice of rumor could not be stilled. Placards 
were found affixed to the door of the Tolbooth, accusing 
Bothwell of the murder. Darnley's father, Lennox, 
wrote to the queen demanding a trial, which was at 
length granted. But Bothwell overawed the capital with 
his troops. The trial was looked upon as a prosecution 
instituted by Lennox, not by the Crown. Lennox was 
afraid to venture to Edinburgh, as the queen forbade him 
to bring more than his household servants to attend him, 



A.D. 1567. Marf s Marriage with Bothwell. 79 

and he was afraid of his Ufe. Bothwell was acquitted 
because no prosecutor appeared, and no evidence against 
him was tendered. 

BothwelFs plans now advanced more rapidly. He 
succeeded in getting a number of the chief l9rds of 
Scotland to sign a bond that they would ,, , 

*-* ■' Mary s mar- 

promote his marriage with the queen. Then, riage with 

. ., 1 . • Bothwell. 

on April 31, as the queen was returnmg 
from Stirling, whither she had gone to visit her child, 
Bothwell intercepted her and carried her off to his castle 
of Dunbar. 

There was still the difficulty in the way of Mary's 
marriage to Bothwell, that Bothwell's wife, sister of the 
Earl of Huntley, was still alive. A divorce was there- 
fore necessary, and as Bothwell was a Protestant, while 
Mary was a Catholic, it was determined to make assur- 
ance doubly sure. In the Protestant Court of Commis- 
saries Bothwell's wife sued for and obtained a divorce 
from her husband on the ground of adultery. The Con- 
sistorial Court of the old religion was re-established by 
royal warrant, and divorce was pronounced on the ground 
of consanguinity according to the laws of the Roman 
Church. When the divorces had thus been settled, 
Bothwell, who meanwhile had been created Duke of 
Orkney and Shetland, married Mary on May 15, 1567. 

By her marriage with Bothwell, whose guilt in regard 
to Darnley's murder was almost universally acknow- 
ledged, Mary had ruined her own reputa- Results of the 
tion, not only in Scotland, but in Europe "carriage, 
generally. Elizabeth had watched her rival sink deeper 
and deeper, till she had ceased for the time to be dan- 
gerous. Mary's infatuation for Bothwell had destroyed 
her political wisdom ; she had given reins to her own 
passions and had paid no heed to her great plans. By 



8o Mary Queen of Scots. a.d. 1567. 

her marriage with a Protestant she had ceased to be the 
head of the Catholic party. By her marriage with a 
man of Bothwell's character she had roused a deep feel- 
ing of disgust throughout Scotland. 

The rapid rise and overweening power of Bothwell 
filled the Scottish lords with alarm. Never before had 
they known what strength the Crown might gain when 
allied to a powerful feudal house, and now they saw 
their independence threatened by this union of Mary 
and Bothwell. Many of those who had signed the bond 
to aid Bothwell began to plot against him, and when 
Mary summoned the feudal levies for an expedition to 
the Borders she met with no answer to her call. Alarmed, 
she and Bothwell retired to Borthwick Castle, whither 
they were soon followed by a force under lords Morton 
and Home, who declared they had come to free Mary 
from the power of Bothwell. As Borthwick Castle 
could not be held against them Bothwell first made his 
escape ; afterwards Mary joined him, and both took 
refuge in Dunbar. The lords advanced to Edinburgh, 
where the castle was at once surrendered to them. 
They issued a proclamation, charging Bothwell with 
having murdered the king, and entrapped Mary into an 
" unhonest marriage." Bothwell raised his forces, and 
the lords marched out of Edinburgh to meet him. The 
armies met at Musselburg; but Bothwell saw that his 
ranks were thinned by desertions. He declined a battle, 
and Mary surrendered herself at Carberry, on condition 
that Bothwell was allowed to escape (June 15, 1567). 
Bothwell fled to Dunbar, and afterwards to his duchy of 
Orkney ; thence he went to Denmark, where he died in 

1577. 

Mary was brought back to Edinburgh amidst the 
execrations of the crowd. Banners representing the 



A.D. 1567. Mary in the Hands of her Nobles. 81 

king's murder were waved before her eyes, and the 
figure of the young prince was represented, calling for 
vengeance on his father's murderers. Mary had by her 
conduct forfeited forever her great position in Europe. 
It was hopeless for her, covered with shame and disgrace 
as she now was, to expect help from France. . , . ^ 

^ ^ Mary in the 

She had lost all the sympathies of her hands of her 
people, and could never again make her- 
self strong in Scotland. The lords had hoped to detach 
her from Bothwell, and govern in her name ; but when 
she still clung to her worthless husband, she was 
removed from Edinburgh and confined in Lochleven 
Castle. 

Three days after this, June 20, a casket belonging, it 
is said, to Bothwell fell into the hands of the confederate 
lords. This casket contained letters purporting to be 
addressed by Mary to Bothwell, which he had kept as a 
means of securing his influence over her. The letters 
themselves were full of the most passionate love for 
Bothwell, and were concerned with schemes for ridding 
themselves of Darnley. If these letters were genuine 
they would establish the depth of Mary's guilt and 
infamy. But the originals have been long ago destroyed, 
and it is impossible at the present day to prove conclu- 
sively whether they were genuine or were forgeries. 
There were motives enough why such letters should have 
been forged by those who wanted some convincing 
proofs of the suspicions which they, perhaps justly, 
entertained. At all events they were accepted as genu- 
ine and were acted upon by the lords at the time. The 
queen was treated as guilty of murder, and was made to 
sign an abdication of the crown in favor of her son, and 
a nomination of her half-brother Murray as regent. 
(July 24, 1567.) 



82 Mary Queen of Scots. a.d. 1567. 

Henceforth Mary was no longer queen of Scotland. 
How deep her own guilt rnay have been is a matter of 
controversy; for since her death Mary has been a 
symbol for political and religious ideas, almost as much 
as she was during her lifetime. But even if we acquit 
her entirely of the blackest crimes of which she has 
been accused, she must still be held to have sacrificed 
strangely the great interests committed to her charge. 
Mary had wrought her own ruin, and Elizabeth had 
witnessed with an intense feeling of relief the hurried 
steps in her rival's downward course. England was 
saved from the danger of a Catholic restoration in Scot- 
land and a great Catholic combination to establish Mary 
on the English throne. How pressingly near the danger 
was at the time of Mary's fall, we shall see if we con- 
sider the position of the Spanish power at the time. 



BOOK III. 

SPAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS, 



CHAPTER I. 

THE SPANISH MONARCHY. 

The power exercised by Charles V. had come to him 
from different sources. He had gathered it into his 
hands not because he was the representa- Power of 
tive of any great poUtical idea, but because Charles V. 
he was the heir of many ruling families. Charles V. 
had been educated in Flanders under the care of hia 
aunt, from whom he imbibed the principles of the old 
Burgundian policy. His great-grandfather on his 
mother's side, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, had 
done his best to break down the power of the King of 
France, and had formed the plan of creating a separate 
kingdom along the Rhine, embracing his dominions of 
Burgundy and the Netherlands. His attempt had failed, 
and the French king had seized upon his Burgundian 
domains. It was the first object of Charles V. to recover 
these possessions from France. 

At first Charles began to govern in the interests of the 
Flemings ; but this was so distasteful to the Castilians that 
it provoked a serious rebellion. Charles Beginning 
saw his mistake, and detached himself °^ ^'^ r&\&^. 
for the future from any special connection with any one 
of the countries under his rule. He governed Castile, 

83 



84 



The Spanish Monarchy, 



BK. III. 



§ 







vr> 






lo ^ 






a «^— • 

""'5 c4 o 

(Do;!) 



^ 






.S o 



I 



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eg- 



fi 




Bimell^ Stimtfiera^N.r. 



86 The Spanish Monarchy, a.d. 1520. 

Aragon, the Netherlands, Germany, Milan, Naples, 
Sicily, besides settlements in the East and in the New 
World. But over all these he ruled by a different title, 
and exercised a different power. One great object of 
his reign had been to make his power supreme in each 
of these his dominions, and to weld them together by 
means of a common administrative system. 

To a great extent Charles V. succeeded. In Castile, 
Milan, Naples and Sicily, the royal power secured its 
supremacy by pitting against one another 
Charles"v." ° Contending parties in the old constitution, 
while it made good its own position as 
against them both. In Germany we have seen that 
Charles V. did not succeed in securing the permanent 
supremacy of his own house. In the Netherlands he 
saw the necessity of behaving with moderation and of 
respecting the constitutional privileges of the several 
provinces. For the Netherlands were the wealthiest part 
of his dominions, and had always been engaged in com- 
merce. The great trading cities each possessed its 
charter, and they were willing to grant money only when 
this charter was rigidly respected. 

It was from the cities of the Netherlands that Charles 
V. had raised the greater part of the money that had 
enabled him to carry on his war with 
kn£^ Nether- Prancc He was too prudent to quarrel with 
the people of these provinces, or attempt to 
make any changes in their constitution. The govern- 
ment was earned on by means of a perpetual balance 
between the power of the prince and the rights of the 
provinces and cities. The Netherlands gave Charles 
money liberally ; but they asserted that they would do it 
of their own free will, and would not pay an arbitrary 
tax. To this Charles answered that he would grant them 



A.D. 1559. Changes made by Philip II. 87 

liberties, but they should not haggle with him like a 
huckster. On this basis of the recognition of mutual 
rights by prince and people, the provinces of the Nether- 
lands were loyal to Charles V. ; they looked upon him as 
a native prince, for he had been brought up among 
them. 

But under Philip II. all this began to change. Philip 
had been brought up in Castile, and was Spanish in 
character, in manner, in appearance, in ^, 

^ ^ . Changes 

language. His coldness, haughtiness, and made by 
pride vexed the Flemings; his reserve ^'^ 
seemed to them to be contemptuous. Yet they were 
loyal to Philip at first. It was the troops of the Nether- 
lands and of England that won for him the decisive 
battle of St. Quentin and enabled him to make with 
France the Peace of Cateau Cambresis (1559). 

When this had been concluded Philip returned to 
Spain, which he never left again. Charles V. had not 
ruled in the interest of any one of the countries under 
his power. He had had no capital, but moved about 
from place to place according as the necessities of the 
times demanded. But Philip II. first gave to the power 
which he had inherited a fixed seat in Castile; he 
founded a Spanish empire, with Madrid as its capital. 
From Madrid he himself would govern his dominions. 
The countries over which he ruled were to be regarded 
as provinces of Spain; they should be cared for by 
Spanish viceroys, and be treated as members of a great 
administrative system. This change in the political 
relations of the countries which formed the dominions of 
Philip II. came gradually. When once it had been 
made it was most important for the destinies of Europe. 
If one man were to wield absolutely all the resources of 
these scattered provinces, if he were to infuse into al3 



88 The Spanish ATonarchy. a.d. 1559. 

these peoples the daring, fierce, fanatical spirit of the 
Spaniards, if he were to combine them to fight for Spain 
and Cathohcism, the control of the future of Europe 
would be in his hands. 

Philip II. was profoundly ambitious. Like his ances- 
tors, he believed that to his house belonged the rule of 
the world. But he was obliged to adapt his 
Character method to his own individual character and 

of Philip II. . ^^ .,.,-, 

capacity. He was no military leader who 
could inspire his soldiers by his presence, nor was he a 
vigorous and genial prince, whose winning and affable 
manners might create enthusiasm for his rule. But he 
was a diligent, industrious, calm, and calculating politi- 
cian. The personal disadvantages and ill-health which 
prevented him from taking a brilliant part in the affairs of 
the world might make him more fit to take a decisive one. 
Alone, in quietness, unswayed by the passions of com- 
batants and undisturbed by the tumult of discordant 
advice, he might, as from a height of contemplation, 
look down upon the complicated affairs of Europe and 
shape them to his own ends. This was Phihp's ideal of 
life. In the seclusion of his gloomy residence of the 
Escurial, he aimed at pulling the threads which were to 
move the course of Europe. From morning to night he 
sat alone in his cabinet and received the despatches 
which poured in from every quarter. All communications 
were carried on with him by writing, and he was his 
own chief minister. The despatches were read and read 
again, they were marked and underlined and analyzed 
and commented on in their margin. They were laid 
aside and carefully weighed and compared laboriously 
with others ; their truth and the integrity of their writers 
were tested by every means which the ingenuity of a 
suspicious nature without a spark of affection or sympa- 



A.D. 1559. Philif s Religious Policy. 89 

thy could suggest. At last the conclusion drawn from 
all this careful thought and comparison of contradictory 
authority slowly took shape as a definite plan. All was 
calmly and deliberately done ; when a plan was once 
formed it was deliberately carried out, and no exultation 
followed its success, no complaint its failure. Philip was 
an admirable and conscientious man of business. He 
set about the task of governing the world as though it 
had been a trade, and if the world could have been 
governed by the industry of a pains-taking clerk, Philip 
would have succeeded admirably. 

Philip never trusted any one, but regarded his ministers 
as instruments for carrying out his schemes. Habitually 
reserved himself, he listened to everything that was told 
him without betraying his own feelings. Rival ministers 
poured out to him their accusations against one another ; 
he listened without being carried away. He allowed a 
plan to be carried out, but judged it solely by its success, 
and if it failed he at once abandoned its contriver. None 
of his ministers were sure of his continued favor. If he 
distrusted a man, he gave no sign of it till he had 
gradually detached him from the business in which he 
was employed, and had deprived him of all means of 
being harmful ; then he suddenly dismissed him. 

Philip felt that the weakness of his political position 
was its unattractiveness and want of interest in the eyes 
of ordinary men. This interest he secured by 
completely identifying himself and his policy gS^s'Jolicy!" 
with the cause of Catholicism. In so doing 
he was no hypocrite, for he was sincerely religious. But 
he saw the advantage to be gained by making his own 
interests coincide with those of the old religion. As the 
champion of Catholicism he interfered in the affairs of 
Europe in such a way that the gain of Catholicism must 



90 The Revolt of the Netherlands, a.d. 1559. 

in every case lead to an increase in the power of Spain. 
It was for this purpose that he identified his government 
with Spain, which had still fresh in its memory the cru- 
sades against the Moors, and when Protestant opinions 
were regarded as a sure token of the taint of Jewish or 
Moorish blood. 

Thus, under Philip, Spain became enthusiastically 
Catholic. The Castllians felt their pride gratified at see- 
Philip identi- ii^g their country made the seat of Philip's 
fied with Spain, power, and they were willing to be taxed 
for its maintenance. Their chivalrous spirit was enlisted 
on the side of their religion. Round Philip's person, as 
being the champion of that religion, was thrown the 
glamor of a passionate loyalty, such as was far removed 
from the old Spanish spirit. Philip had been wise in 
identifying himself with Spain. He had obtained by 
that means, in spite of all his disadvantages, a power 
which his father had never been able to gain. It re- 
mained for Philip to establish the spirit of Spain in the 
other parts of his dominions, especially in the Nether- 
lands. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS. 

The country, which at the present day forms the two 
kingdoms of Holland and Belgium, was called, from its 
The Nether- geographical position, the Netherlands or 
ands. ^j^g 'Lovj Countries. It consists of a large 

plain, formed round the mouths of the three great rivers, 
the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheld. During the 
middle ages, this land had belonged to many different 



A. D. 1559- Their Government 91 

lords, but was at last slowly united in the hands of the 
Valesian Dukes of Burgundy, until by the marriage of 
Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold, to the Emperor 
Maximilian I., it had passed under the rule of the house 
of Austria. Charles V. inherited it as Maximilian's 
grandson. 

But still, under Charles V., the Netherlands did not 
form one state for administrative purposes. Each of the 
seventeen provinces of which it was com- Their govem- 
posed, had its own constitution, its own "^^'^'• 
assembly of Estates, and some had their own stadt- 
holder, or local governor. For common purposes general 
assemblies were held of the Estates of all the provinces ; 
but each province granted taxes separately, and pre- 
sented to the prince its own statement of grievances. 
Each province had its own charter and its own privi- 
leges, to which it tenaciously clung. The principle of 
local government was strong in the Netherlands, and it 
would obviously be no easy task for Philip to reduce 
them to the position of a province of the Spanish 
monarchy. The towns were rich, and the burghers had 
a strong spirit of independence. The nobles were nu- 
merous and warlike, men accustomed to high positions 
of confidence, many of them impoverished, and almost 
all ambitious. The question was whether Philip would 
manage to mould them to his will. 

In the early part of the sixteenth century, the trade 
of the Netherlands had immensely increased. The 
Portuguese discoverers, by opening a direct Their 
communication by sea with India and South- prosperity. 
em Africa, had deprived Venice of the monopoly of 
trade with the East. Italy generally had been turned 
into the battle-field of Europe, and its commerce began 
to decay. Trade took up its abode more decidedly than 



92 The Revolt of the Netherlands, a. d. 1559, 

before in the north of Europe. Antwerp became the 
great commercial capital of the world, and the Venetian 
ambassador sighed to see Venice surpassed. Every- 
where throughout the Netherlands, trade flourished and 
wealth abounded. The people lived in opulence and 
comfort. They were laborious, diligent, and ingenious. 
They had no delight in war, save as a means of securing 
lasting peace. They took no pleasure in martial exer- 
cises; but on their hohdays their "guilds of rhetoric" 
delighted to represent some allegory, where they could 
set fortlirin visible form some moral truth or maxim of 
worldly wisdom, decked with all the glory of costume 
that art could devise and wealth supply. 

When Philip left the Netherlands in 1559, he appoint- 
ed as regent his half-sister Margaret, Duchess of Parma. 
To help her in the government was a State Council, 
composed mostly of native nobles ; but this was checked 
by a privy council, consisting of those whom Philip could 
trust ; and even they soon found that the regent had 
received orders to do nothing which was disapproved 
of by Antony Perrenot, generally known as Cardinal 
Granvella. Granvella was the son of the chief minister 
of Charles V., and had himself served the Emperor; he 
was now bishop of Arras, and was supposed to be deep in 
Philip's confidence, and entirely devoted to Philip's 
interest. He was an ecclesiastic, and as such was likely 
to use all his influence to suppress the growing movement 
towards the reformed doctrines which Charles V. had in 
vain tried to keep down. 

The nobles soon found themselves neglected. William 

of Nassau, whose father had been one of Charles V.'s 

most faithful generals, and who had himself 

Phiiip^lT" *° been a great favorite of the Emperor, found 

that he was subordinate to Granvella. Wil- 



A. D. 1560. Philip'' 5 Ecclesiastical Measures. 93 

Ham is generally known to be one of the titles of Prince 
of Orange. He inherited the small principality from a 
cousin who married the heiress of Orange-Chalons, and 
died without children. Count Egmont, who had won 
for Philip the battle of St. Quentin, and Count Horn, one 
of the chief commanders of the day, both found that 
Philip employed only Spaniards, and passed them by. 
The burghers felt that they were in danger of falling 
under a foreign yoke. They refused, according to their 
old liberties, to admit any foreigner to hold any office in 
the provinces. Their jealousy was awakened by the 
presence of Spanish troops which had been levied for 
war against France. Before Philip left, the Estates 
demanded their withdrawal, as it was against their liberties 
to have foreign troops quartered within their borders. 
He promised angrily to withdraw them, but he did his 
best to find excuses for keeping them there. The 
Zeelanders threatened, that if their land were longer 
polluted by foreign troops, they would open their dykes 
and let in the ocean, rather than endure their hated 
presence. The regent was obliged to write and urge 
their withdrawal, which was reluctantly acceded to by 
Philip at the end of 1 560. 

When once popular suspicion was roused, everything 
tended to excite it more ; and the ecclesiastical measures 
of the king soon created a ferment. The „ 

__,, 111 1, ,.. Philip's eccle- 

Netherlands had only three bishoprics, and siastica! 
Philip had applied to the Pope to increase "^^^^"''"• 
the number. A papal bull was accordingly issued, 
making three archbishops and fifteen bishops. These 
were to be endowed out of monastic property ; and in 
this way the wealth of the younger members of the noble 
families would be diminished, while the king, who was 
to appoint to the bishoprics, would greatly strengthen his 
G 



94 The Revolt of the Netherlands, a.d. 1559. 

political power, and also would have the means of putting 
down heresy more effectually. The nobles saw in this 
a means of increasing the power of the detested Gran- 
vella ; if religious persecutions were admitted, he might 
attack them under pretext of heresy. The Inquisition, 
an institution with regular officials and courts for in- 
quiring into cases of heresy, had been established 
in the Netherlands by Charles V. in 1522, and had soon 
committed great devastations. The persecution carried 
on by the inquisitors, already sufficiently hateful to the 
people, had been increased in rigor by an edict of Charles 
V. in 1550, and another of Philip in 1555. 

Granvella accordingly was unpopular amongst all 
classes. The nobles addressed remonstrances to the 
,„ . , , , king, asking for his removal, but with no 

Withdrawal of ° .1 1 /• 1 -i ■ r r ■, 

Granvella. effect. At last Several of the chief of them 
entered into a league of defence against 
him. He was attacked in caricature and lampoons by 
the people. The nobles, to ridicule his pomp and dis- 
play, adopted a livery of the plainest serge, embroidered 
only at the sleeve with a fool's cap, which might be 
taken also for a monk's cowl. This rude Flemish wit 
told among the people. Even the regent began to tire 
of her subordination to Granvella. Orange, Egmont, 
and Horn all withdrew from the State Council, saying 
that they were mere shadows there, and Granvella was 
the sole reality. 

At last the king was obliged to give way. He wrote 
to Granvella (February, 1564) saying that it would be 
well for him to leave the country for a few days to visit his 
mother; and Granvella never returned. The nobles were 
triumphant. Orange, Egmont, and Horn resumed their 
seats at the Council, resolved to carry out their own plans, 
and secure a national government for the Netherlands. 



A.D. 1564. Religious Troubles. 95 

Meanwhile, however, the new bishops had been ap- 
pointed, and new ecclesiastical arrangements were being 

carried out. Religious persecutions were ^ , 

Religious op- 
more rigorously conducted, and popular position to 

discontent had increased. The Spanish ' ^^' 
troops and the Spanish minister had been got rid of; but 
it seemed that the Spanish influence would return 
through the Church, and that the authority of Philip 
would be established under cover of the maintenance of 
religion. Nobles and people alike bent their endeavors 
to procure a modification of the religious edicts ; if they 
could be suspended, the new bishops would be political- 
ly harmless. Count Egmont was sent to Philip to re- 
present the state of affairs. But Philip would not yield 
on this point ; he received Egmont kindly, and dismissed 
him with fair speeches ; but he sent to the regent, order- 
ing the pubUcation of the canons which had just been 
passed by the Council of Trent, and bidding the magis- 
trates everywhere to help the inquisitors to put down 
heresy. 

The nobles were alarmed at this, the people were in a 
fury. It was suspected that an alHance had been made 
between France and Spain to crush the Protestants, and 
establish the royal power more firmly in the dominions 
of both. A deep determination to resist the Inquisition 
spread among all classes in society, amongst patriotic 
Catholics as much as amongst the threatened Protestants. 
This feeling, early in 1 566, found its expression in what 
is known as the " Compromise," which was a bond de- 
claring the Inquisition to be " iniquitous, contrary to all 
laws, human and divine." The signers bound themselves 
to " extirpate and eradicate the thing in any form, as the 
mother of all iniquity and disorder." 

The Compromise was largely signed by the lesser 



g6 The Revolt of the Netherlands, a.d. 1566. 

nobles and the richer merchants. The merchants es- 
pecially felt the pressure of the disturbed 

Commercial '■ r ^ • \ ■ ^ , , 

effects on State of thmgs. It is reckoned that 30,000 

England. Flemish weavers had fled to England before 

the persecution. There they were readily welcomed by 
Elizabeth. She gave them settlements in Sandwich and 
Norwich, and every Fleming so settled was obliged by law 
to employ at least one English apprentice. The English 
learned better the arts of cloth-making, silk-making, 
and dyeing, and no longer exported their wool for 
manufacture to Flanders. Instead of Antwerp sending 
its wares to England, Norwich sent out vessels laden 
with English fabrics for sale in the marts of Flanders. 
The Netherlands began to feel acutely the result of 
Philip's policy of intolerance. 

The signers of the Compromise next drew up a peti- 
tion to the regent, setting forth that the Inquisition was 
likely to lead to rebellion, and begging her 
Be^^a^ V,*^® to suspend it entirely until the king's pleas- 
ure could be more fully known. It was pre- 
sented with great ceremony, by a body of some two hun- 
dred nobles, on April 5, 1566. The duchess dismissed 
them without an answer ; she was much agitated, and 
one of her counsellors, Berlaymont, exclaimed, to cheer 
her — " What, madam, is it possible your Highness can fear 
these beggars (gueux)?" The saying spread, and the 
confederates in bravado adopted the badge of a beggar's 
wallet, and called themselves " the beggars " (les gueux). 
The excitement spread amongst the common people, 
who flocked in crowds to hear the Protestant preachers. 
In the Netherlands, as elsewhere. Protestantism had as- 
sumed a strong political significance ; but in the Nether- 
lands it did so almost at once, for it was associated most 
directly with opposition to the foreign oppressor. 



A.i>. 1566. Iconoclasm at Antwerp. 97 

This popular excitement could not last long without 
finding some very definite expression. On August 18 
was the ceremony of the " Ommegang," 
or procession of a miraculous image of the 'breaking at 
Virgin at Antwerp. As the priests swept ^twerp. 

through the streets, they were greeted by the jeers of the 
crowd — "Mayken! Mayken ! (little Mary)," they ex- 
claimed, " your hour is come." For the next two days 
there were riots in the cathedral ; at last the crowd was 
roused to fury ; the images were torn in pieces, and all 
the images and statues that adorned the building were 
pulled down. The example was followed in other 
churches, and soon spread to other towns. A wave of 
iconoclasm passed over the land, and the noble ecclesi- 
astical buildings of many cities in the Netherlands were 
robbed of their richest ornaments. 

The duchess was alarmed and was on the point of 
flight. She was stayed, however, by her council, and on 
August 25 published an "Accord," which abolished the 
Inquisition, and allowed liberty of preaching the new 
doctrines in places where it had already been practiced. 

Philip, however, was not likely to be content with this. 
He waited first for the natural reaction to follow on the 
iconoclastic riots. All moderate men had Reaction 
been shocked by them ; all fervent Catho- in Philip's 
lies had been dismayed by this turn of af- 
fairs. The leading nobles had been willing enough to 
use Protestant religious feeling as a political weapon 
against Philip ; but they were not prepared to estab- 
tablish Protestantism. They were willing enough to 
bring pressure to bear upon the king ; but they felt they 
could not be concerned in riots, and they were not 
prepared for violent measures against Philip. Egmont 
withdrew from his former opposition and resolved hence- 



98 The Revolt of the Netherlands, a.d. 1566. 

forward to serve Philip. Horn retired to his own house, 
determined to interfere no more in political matters. 
The confederate nobles, now somewhat weary of noisy- 
demonstration, professed themselves satisfied with the 
Accord, and dissolved their bond. 

The result of this naturally was that the hands of the 
government were strengthened, and the party of oppo- 
sition was hopelessly divided. It was not long before 
the regent took advantage of this state of feeling. The 
disturbances were everywhere checked. The city of 
Valenciennes, which had refused to admit a garrison, 
was besieged and at last taken by Egmont, who punished 
the citizens with ruthless severity. He was determined 
to prove his loyalty to Philip, and show him that he had 
no sympathy with rebeUion. The fate of Valenciennes 
was decisive for the time ; the Protestants either hastened 
to make their submission, or left the country. A new 
and most stringent oath of allegiance, requiring a pro- 
mise of unqualified obedience to the government, was 
imposed on all who held office under the Crown. It was 
taken by all the nobles, except only the Prince of Orange, 
who refused to admit this innovation upon the old con- 
stitution. He resigned all his offices, and withdrew from 
the Netherlands into Germany, to see what course events 
were likely to take. 

There were in Philip II. 's privy council two men 
Philip's whose opinion most weighed with him : the 
designs. Duke of Alva and Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, 

Prince of Eboli. They were two widely different men. 
Ruy Gomez had gained the royal favor by his suppleness 
and address ; he thoroughly knew his master's character 
and fell in unobtrusively with his master's ways ; Philip 
was helped in the process of thinking, which he found a 
slow one, by the forethought and considerateness of his 



A.D. 1567. Alva sent to the Netherlmids. 99 

careful minister, who seemed to anticipate his thoughts, 
yet with due deference. Alva, on the other hand, was a 
noble of the old Spanish type, haughty, proud, self-as- 
serting, who felt that his position was only the due reward 
of his merits ; he was devoted to the king, for only in 
the king's service could he honorably obtain glory. Be- 
tween these two ministers a bitter opposition raged. 
Philip encouraged each of them in turn, and listened to 
the complaints of the one against the other, for he 
thought that in this way he would get to their true opi- 
nions, and so would gain the greatest amount of good 
out of both. 

About the policy to be pursued towards the Nether- 
lands these two ministers, as usual, differed. Ruy 
Gomez, as being no soldier, was in favor of pacific 
measures ; Alva, as one of the chief captains of the age, 
advocated severe repression. He undertook, if he were 
only supplied with Spanish troops, to reduce the Nether- 
lands to subjection once for all, and secure that the 
Netherland taxes should flow regularly into Philip's 
coffers. The v/ealth of the heretics was to pay for the 
war and enrich the king as well. Philip's finances could 
ill endure the losses that came from the disturbed state 
of the Netherlands. He agreed with Alva's policy and 
sent him with an army of 10,000 veterans, the picked 
troops of Italy and Spain, to reduce the provinces to 
submission. 

Alva set out in May, 1567, resolved to do his work 
thoroughly. His own political credit was at stake. 
Here was a splendid opportunity of doing the Alva sent 
greatest possible service to the king, of vindi- Nether- 
eating his own foresight, and of returning lands, 
triumphant over his rival. He went to the Netherlands 
with full powers, and the duchess of Parma, finding her- 



7. oo The Revolt of the Netherlands, a. d . 1567. 

self superseded, resigned her office and retired. Alva 
oc^-upied the towns with his troops. Determined to strike 
terror at once, he arrested Counts Egmont and Horn, 
and committed them to prison. He next established a 
council for the trial of offences committed during the 
recent disturbances. From its severity this council has 
won for itself the title of the " Blood Council," and the 
number of its victims spread terror throughout the land. 
Counts Egmont and Horn were indicted on the charge 
of having stirred up a plot against the king ; they were 
found guilty and condemned to death. Neither their 
high position, their noble birth, nor their former services 
could save them from Philip's wrath. They were be- 
headed on June 5, 1568, in the great square at Brussels. 
Alva had cowed the Netherlands into submission ; but 
there was still one man who talked of resistance, one 
whom Alva's power could not reach. The 
of?hePrii?ce Prince of Orange, condemned by the Blood 
ofOrange. Council with Egmont and Horn, pubhshed, 
from his retirement in Germany, a " Justification," which 
was an indignant attack upon Philip's tyranny. A change 
had come over the character of Orange. Up to this time 
he had been an adherent to the old Church ; but his 
opinions slowly changed in exile. He became a deter- 
mined Protestant of the school of Calvin, yet with views 
of wider toleration than were common in his day. He 
now, in Philip's name, enlisted soldiers against Alva, and 
granted a commission to his brother, Count Louis of 
Nassau, setting forth that to show his love to the king 
and to the provinces, and to maintain the privileges 
sworn to by the king, he empowered his brother to enrol 
troops. At first Count Louis obtained some advantage 
in Friesland, and hoped for assistance from the Hugue- 
nots in France. But Alva took the field against hhn and 



A.D. 1568. Rising of the Huguenots. loi 

at Jemmingen the raw recruits of Count Louis fled at 
once before the veterans of Spain (July 22, 1568). For 
two days the fugitives were slaughtered. Count Louis 
succeeded in making his escape, but few of his soldiers 
were so fortunate ; seven Spaniards only were killed, 
and seven thousand rebels. It seemed too clear that it 
was hopeless for the unhappy Netherlanders to think of 
resistance. But Orange was not daunted ; in September 
he entered Brabant and challenged Alva, who refused a 
battle, but inflicted severe damage on the Army of 
Orange, who, after a month's campaign, was obliged to 
retire without having effected any thing. 

Again Alva was triumphant. The Netherlands lay at 
his feet. His severities were redoubled, and in the cita- 
del of Antwerp he erected a colossal statue to himself, 
for having "extinguished sedition, chastised rebellion, 
restored religion, secured justice, and established peace." 



CHAPTER HL 



RESULTS OF ALVA S MEASURES ON FRANCE, ENGLAND, 
AND SCOTLAND. 

Alva's measures in the Netherlands were felt as a 
menace to Protestantism throughout Europe generally. 
If Philip succeeded, he would first help to put down the 
Huguenots in France, and then would turn his attention 
to England. 

In France the Huguenots were at once stirred to 
alarm by their danger. They saw that the queen-mother 



I02 Results of Alva' s Measures, a.d. 1568. 

leaned towards the Catholic party, and that 
HuguliTo^ts.^^ the Cardinal of Lorraine again took his 

place at the Council, Troops were being 
raised by the government, ostensibly to protect the fron- 
tier, but the Huguenots suspected that they might be 
used against themselves. Determined to forestall the 
danger, they swiftly and secretly armed, and made an 
attempt to surprise the court at Monceaux, near Meaux, 
their plan being to compel the removal of the cardinal 
and the dismissal of the Swiss troops. The surprise 
failed, and the court escaped to Paris. The i M Consta- 
ble Montmorency led the royal army against the rebels, 
and after a fierce battle, in which he was killed, defeated 
them at St. Denis, November 10, 1567. A German army 
came to their aid, and the king was compelled to make 
peace, and re-issue the edict of toleration in its full ex- 
tent. (March, 1568.) 

But this pacification was not to last long. Alva 
urged upon the young king of France that to make con- 
cessions in matters concerning religion was beyond the 
royal power; he was granting what belonged to God, not 
to himself. Alva's example encouraged other Catholic 
powers. Moreover, he offered the French king aid 
against the rebels. The late rising of the Huguenots 
had filled the common people with terror of their power, 
and there was a strong feeling against them. The edict 
of pacification was revoked, on the demand of the Pope, 
only six months after it had been granted. Both parties 
armed, and the struggle which in 1 568 had been carried 
on in the Netherlands was in 1 569 to be carried on in 
France. 

Second reli- ^^^ Prince of Orange and Count Louis 
gioiis war in of Nassau, made common cause with the 

Fr3,ncc 

Huguenots ; the German Protestants sent 



A. D. 1569- Second Religious War in France. 103 

them succors, and Elizabeth sent them money. But 
they were not fortunate in battle; in May they were de- 
feated at Jarnac, and their leader, Conde, was slain. 
When in October, they again ventured to meet the royal 
forces under the Duke of Anjou, the king's brother, they 
were disastrously defeated at Moncontour. Still Coligny 
did not despair. He retreated in good order towards 
Rochelle, the district round which had become exclu- 
sively Protestant. It was vain to attempt to subdue this 
country. It had refused to recognize the legality of the 
act which withdrew the edict of tolerance, and now 
declared itself to be under the government of the young 
Prince of Navarre, The little town of St. Jean d'Angely 
offered a stubborn resistance to the royal troops, though 
the king himself was in the camp. The men of Ro- 
chelle even fitted out a small fleet, with which they 
made raids on the neighboring coast, seized booty, and 
sold it for the benefit of the prince whom they had 
adopted. Coligny again raised an army, and threatened 
to march against Paris. 

The Huguenots were too strong to be put down at 
once by force, and had been well aided by peace of St. 
England and the Netherlands. If the war Germain, 1570. 
were to last, it could only be by a close alliance of the 
Catholic party with Spain. But here the old national 
jealousy stood in the way. Alva had not given such 
cordial help as was expected ; his success in the Nether- 
lands was threatening to France ; to subdue the Hugue- 
nots by Philip's assistance would be to sacrifice the 
national independence and lay open a new field to the 
boundless ambition of Spain. The court resolved on 
peace, and offered again to renew the edict of pacifica- 
tion. But as the Huguenots demanded some guarantee 
for their security, four towns were put into their hands 



I04 Results of Alva' s Measures, a.d. 1567. 

for two years, amongst them Rochelle. The peace of 
St. Germain (August, 1570), again restored quiet in 
France; but it showed that, if need were, the Huguenots 
were determined to maintain their own safety by arms. 

But the presence of an Alva in the Netherlands affected 
England almost as closely as it did France. It was just 

„ . . , at the time of Alva's expedition, that Mary 

Position of , 1 , . ^■ 

Mary in Scot- of Scotland had exhausted the patience of 
her subjects. The deposition and captivity 
of Mary deprived the Catholic party in England of its 
head. Mary at that time had so entirely disgraced her- 
self in the eyes of Europe, that a rising in her name was 
not to be thought of. Still Elizabeth was afraid of Alva 
and was unwilling to seem to be in league with the 
Scottish nobles, who had deposed their sovereign. She 
felt the danger of admitting their right to do so. Though 
keenly alive to the advantages she had gained from 
recent events in Scotland, she could not bring herself 
to sanction them. Perhaps she thought that Mary had so 
far discredited herself as to be henceforth harmless; 
perhaps she thought that her restoration through English 
influence would silence her. At all events she urged 
her release upon the Scottish lords, till she was met by 
the threat that her further importunity might cost Mary 
her life. 

The nobles were resolved that Mary should not re- 
turn to power. But her party gathered strength from 
,, , Alva's successes. Before she had been in 

Mary s es- 
cape from prison a year she managed to escape to 
prison. Hamilton, and soon found herself at the 
head of an army of her adherents. Murray, though 
taken by surprise, armed also, and cut off Mary's ad- 
vance to the strong castle of Dumbarton Rock, where 
she felt she would be secure. The two armies met at 



A.D. 1568. Mary's Escape to England. 105 

Langside on the Clyde (May 13, 1568). The battle is 
interesting, as showing the strange results produced by 
the old method of warfare. In front of both armies were 
stationed the heavy armed men. When they charged, 
the spears of both opposing lines stuck in the joints of 
each other's armor. The front lines were consequently 
fastened together, and the battle became a mere tussle, 
in which the hinder ranks could take no part, except by 
throwing stones and sticks over the impeding mass of 
mail. At last the battle was decided by a charge of 
Murray's cavalry. Mary's troops fled, and she herself 
galloped from the field and hurried across the Border, 
where she took refuge in CarHsle, and begged for Eliza- 
beth's protection. 

This was a step extremely perplexing to Elizabeth 
and her advisers. What was to be done ? To restore 
Mary by force would be to alienate the Mary in 

Scots, and to establish in Scotland a hostile England, 

in place of a friendly government. To allow Mary to go 
to France would be to put a most dangerous instrument 
in the hands of the Catholic party on the Continent. To 
keep her in England was equally difficult, for Elizabeth 
had no grounds for treating her as a prisoner, and if she 
were at large she would be a centre for Catholic plots. 
Her presence in the northern counties was dangerous, 
for there the Catholics were strongest. Before Mary's 
presence and the story of her misfortunes, the remem- 
brance of her crimes began to fade away, and the old 
chivalrous spirit revived. It was thought wise to remove 
her from Carlisle to Bolton Castle in Yorkshire. 

At first Elizabeth tried to arrange a compromise be- 
tween Mary and the Regent Murray ; but this was im- 
possible. Mary demanded that Elizabeth Conference 
should either restore her, or give her free *' ^oxk. 



io6 Results of Alva'' s Measures, a.d. 1568- 

passage to France. She asked for an interview. Eliza- 
beth refused the interview till Mary had cleared herself 
of the charges brought against her, urging that she could 
not proceed to restore her, and so pur^ish the rebellious 
lords, till she knew the extent of their guilt. Mary ac- 
cordingly agreed to a conference, which was held at 
York towards the end of the year. The Duke of Nor- 
folk, the chief Catholic peer, was the principal commis- 
sioner appointed by Elizabeth. Murray and Mary both 
sent their representatives ; but the conference led to no 
decided result, except that the evidence against Mary 
for the murder of Darnley, including the " casket let- 
ters," was laid before the chief English peers. They 
reported to the queen that they had seen " such foul 
matters " as to justify her in refusing to give Mary an 
interview. On the main question nothing was done. 
Mary still remained at Bolton, and Murray returned to 
Scotland with a loan of 5,000/. from Elizabeth, " for the 
maintenance of peace between England and Scotland." 
Elizabeth was still doubtful what course to pursue. 
The suppression of the Huguenots in France, and the 
entire subjugation of the Netherlands might 
EHzabetk ^^''^ ^^1 Europe against her. In the face of 

this danger Cecil and the Protestants urged 
the queen to put herself at the head of Protestantism in 
Europe, to make war openly against Alva, and send 
back Mary to Scotland. The Catholic and moderate 
party wished for peace with Spain, and the recognition 
of Mary's claim to the succession in England. Eliza- 
beth adopted a middle course. She sent money "to the 
Huguenots in France, and seriously crippled Alva 
by seizing some ships laden with money for the pay 
of his soldiers, which had been driven by bad weather 
into Southampton and Plymouth (December, 1568). Alva 



A. D. 1569. Rising of the North. 107 

was furious, and seized all English ships and property 
in the Netherlands. Elizabeth retaliated on the Spani- 
ards in England. She pleaded that the money belonged 
to Genoese bankers, not to Alva; it had come into her 
hands, and she had borrowed it instead of him. Philip, 
desirous of settling matters in the Netherlands before 
engaging with England, allowed the affront to pass by. 

Similarly, Elizabeth hoped that the documents laid 
before her commissioners would destroy in their minds 
any doubts they might feel about Mary's 
detention. But in this she was mistaken. 2id Mary. 
The Duke of Norfolk had formed the scheme 
of marrying Mary ; and many who, from political reasons, 
were opposed to Cecil, and were in favor of a concilia- 
tory policy towards Mary and Spain, promised him their 
assistance. Elizabeth, however, discovered the plan 
too soon. Norfolk was committed for a short time to 
the Tower, and his confederates, among whom was 
Leicester, were for a while disgraced. 

Mary was indeed a dangerous captive. Her partisans 
had waited to see if this powerful political coalition would 
succeed : but when they saw that it had failed „ , „. ,. 

' ■' Rebellion of 

and that Cecil's watchfulness was not to be the Northern 
eluded, they had recourse to arms. The 
Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland headed a 
premature rising in the north. They demanded the 
restoration of the old religion and the dismissal of the 
queen's upstart advisers. They advanced to Durham, 
celebrated the mass once more in the cathedral, and 
tore the English Bible in pieces before the people. But 
their triumph was brief. The Catholic gentry were not 
yet prepared to turn rebels, and the aid expected from 
the Duke of Alva never came. The Earl of Sussex kept 
them occupied in the north till he was joined by rein- 



io8 Results of Alva' s Aleasures. a. d. 1569. 

forcements from the southern counties. When at length 
he was strong enough to proceed against them, the rebel 
army dispersed, Westmoreland fled to the Netherlands, 
where he ended his days miserably in the receipt of a 
small pension from Philip. Northumberland took refuge 
in Scotland, where he was taken prisoner by Murray, and 
at last given up to the English government and executed 
at York. 

The rebellion was easily put down, and severely 
punished. The queen had been thoroughly frightened, 
_ , and her terror showed itself in revenge. 

Cruelty ^ , • , , , , r • i 

in its Sussex complamed that he was leit m the 

suppression. ]n^qj.^|^ «< j^^t ^-q direct hanging matters." In 
every little village the insurgents were sought out and 
executed. As yet Elizabeth had been merciful ; but as 
the great conflict of her reign deepened around her, 
mercy gave way before desperate endeavors. 

Still, the end of the year 1 569 showed Elizabeth to be 
strong in her hold upon her people. The long-threatened 
Catholic rebellion had failed to shake her position. Alva 
had not yet felt himself strong enough to help her rebels. 
Philip, in despite of an outrageous affront, was not pre- 
pared for war. There was nothing to fear from France ; 
for the French dread of Spain was tending to bring Eng- 
land and France nearer together, and a French marriage 
was even proposed to Elizabeth. 



A.D. I570- Excomtnunication of Elizabeth. 109 



CHAPTER IV. 

STRUGGLE OF CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM, 
1 570-1 572. 

One great reason of the failure of the rising in England 
had been that the Catholics, as a body, did not join it. 
Their allegiance was as yet due to their queen, and they 
did not feel that their religion called upon them to take 
part in a rebellion. This feeling, however, was soon to 
be disturbed. Open and avowed hostility between 
Catholicism and Protestantism was to be introduced into 
England also. 

Pope Pius v., Michele Ghislieri, had been a Dominican 
inquisitor before his elevation to the papacy. Austere, 
zealous and determined, he devoted all his 

^ . . - , ^-. Elizabeth 

energies to the suppression of heresy. Un- excommuni- 
der his rule the Inquisition crushed out Pro- '^^^^'^" 
testantism in Italy. Though a man of fervent piety and 
blameless life, he shrank from no measures which were 
likely to put down the schism. He Rejoiced over Alva's 
cruelties in the Netherlands, and sent him a sword and 
cap which he had blessed, as a token of his favor. A 
man of this kind was not likely to leave the English 
Cathohcs doubtful of their duties. He proceeded to the 
excommunication of Elizabeth ; but he did it secretly 
that he might not be prevented by the remonstrances of 
France and Spain. In May 1 570 the bull of excommuni- 
cation was found fixed on the door of the Bishop of Lon- 
don's house; and a student of Lincoln's Inn, by name 
Felton, paid with his life for his rash act. 
This excommunication was felt by Elizabeth and her 
H 



no Struggle of Catliolicism, &'c. A. d. 15 71. 

ministers to be a declaration of war ; it was resented by 
the mass of the English people as an act of aggression. 
Moreover, fears for the queen's life had been awakened 

by recent events in Scotland. The Catholic 
Affairs in party had there roused itself for a desperate 

effort, and had hoped, if the Regent Murray 
were removed, to succeed once more in gaining power. 
James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh undertook Murray's 
assassination, and shot him from the balcony of a house 
in Linlithgow, as he was making a state entry into the 
town, January 23, 1570. The result was anarchy in 
Scotland, where for the next few years a civil war raged 
between the queen's party and the adherents of the king. 
In England the Parliament which met in 1571 pro- 
ceeded to pass bills declaring it high treason to call the 
^ , „ queen a heretic, or to affirm that any one 

England s -^ . 

answer to particular person was her successor, or to 

'^^^' publish any bull from tlie Pope. A bill was 

even introduced to compel all above a certain age to re- 
ceive the Communion according to the established 
service ; but this was withdrawn after a discussion. The 
Catholic attack upon England had called forth severe 
reprisals. England entered upon a course of persecution, 
not, however, of religious opinions as such, but because 
of their political consequences. Conformity to the Estab- 
lished Church was rigidly required from all ; and while 
Parliament passed laws against the Cathohcs, the High 
Commission Court, under the presidency of Archbishop 
Parker, demanded from the Puritans obedience to the 
established ceremonies. 

The religious struggle was not long in breaking cut 

again. The old plan of the liberation of 

Ridolfi's Mary, her marriage with the Duke of 

Norfolk, and of the restoration of Catholicism 



A. D. 1572. Ridolfi s Plot. Ill 

was again revived. But this time it was seen that the 
aid of foreign powers was necessary for its success. 
Ridolfi, a Florentine, who had long resided in England, 
was sent to confer with the Duke of Alva, Philip II., and 
the Pope. Philip II. warmly entered into the scheme. 
The Pope declared himself ready to sell even the chalices 
from his churches for such a worthy object. It was 
agreed that Alva was to send 10,000 men to help the 
conspirators. But Ridolfi was too dull a plotter to 
escape the vigilance of Lord Burleigh, by which title Sir 
William Cecil was now known. A suspicious packet of 
papers was seized. Norfolk's secretary was imprisoned 
and confessed, and the whole plot was discovered. 
Mary's ambassador in England, the Bishop of Ross, was 
thrown into the tower, and the Spanish ambassador was 
dismissed from England. Norfolk was brought to trial 
before his brother peers, was found guilty of treason and 
condemned to death. It was some time before Elizabeth 
could be brought to consent to the execution of the chief 
nobleman in the kingdom ; but at last she gave way, 
and Norfolk was beheaded, June 2, 1572. 

The rising of 1569 had failed, because it was confined 
within too narrow limits and had not appealed to the 
Catholic world. Now a great plot in which all the chief 
Catholic powers were to have taken part was stopped 
before it could come to a head. Phihp II. did not ven- 
ture to resent his ambassador's dismissal. The queen 
only became dearer to her people as they saw the efforts 
directed against her. 

Meanwhile in France the dread of the encroachments 
of Spain had been increased. The combined 
fleets of Venice, the Pope, and Philip II. had Englancf."'^ 
won a brilliant victory at Lepanto over the 
Turks, and a new course of aggrandizement seemed 



ri2 Struggle of Catliolicistti, ^'c. a.d. 1572. 

open to Philip. France drew nearer to England, and 
proposals were made for a marriage between Elizabeth 
and the Duke of Anjou, the younger brother of Charles 
IX. The negotiations gave Elizabeth an opportunity 
for the display of her vacillation and her delight in mys- 
tifying those around her. The marriage was not popular 
in England, and all talk of it was laid aside for a while 
in consequence of the events of 1572 in France. 

In that country peace with the Huguenots and jealousy 
of Spain had become, both of them, parts of the royal 
^ ^ poHcy. The young king, Charles IX., was 

of Charles of wcak intelligence, yet of wild and pas- 
sionate nature. His education had been 
neglected owing to his feeble health, and he was unable 
to give serious attention to the affairs of state. He was 
entirely under the influence of his mother, Catharine de' 
Medici, who ruled in his name. Catharine was the 
daughter of the man to whom Machiavelli 
de'^Medici ^^^ dedicated the " Prince," and she was 
well skilled in all the arts of dissimulation. 
After living powerless at court during her husband's life- 
time, she was determined to satisfy her desire for power 
when her time came. Yet her title to power was very 
precarious. She was a stranger by birth ; she repre- 
sented no great national interest, no political party ; she 
was supported by no great family, and awoke no enthu- 
siasm amongst the common people. Yet when she once 
had power in her hands she devoted all her energies to 
keep it. About the great questions which at that time 
agitated France, she was entirely indifferent ; but she 
was willing to play off one party against the other so as 
to maintain herself in power. Tall, and of strong, com- 
manding appearance, she exercised great influence over 
those who were around her. She had a powerful nature, 



A.D. 1572. Gaspard de CoUgny. 113 

which could adapt itself to any circumstances. She had 
great quickness of mind and penetration. She knew 
well how to conciliate opponents, and how to satisfy 
them without committing herself to definite promises. 
She trusted no one, and no one trusted her. She pre- 
ferred to be regarded as a peace-maker and mediator 
between the contending parties in France ; but would 
hesitate at nothing to rid herself of one who was likely 
to disturb her position. 

Hence she had opposed the Guises, and had been a 
foe to Mary of Scotland. Over Charles IX. her rule 
seemed absolute, and she was determined to maintain it 
at any cost. But she saw this rule over her son's mind 
suddenly threatened. Charles IX. became jealous of 
the fame gained by his younger brother, the Duke of 
Anjou, who had been the leader of the victorious Catho- 
lics at the battle of Moncontour. The populace of Paris 
was distinguished by its bitter hatred of the Hugue- 
nots, whose chief opponent was always the popular hero 
of the capital. Charles IX. was alarmed at his brother's 
superior position ; he was afraid of some plot against 
himself. Stung to a sudden energy, he determined to 
gain glory himself also. For this end he would make 
common cause with the Huguenots, and wage war 
against Spain. 

The head of the Huguenot party was also the most 
famous general in France, and was in French history at 
this age the one prominent man who rose 
above the level of intrigue, fanaticism, and 
self-seeking into a higher region of lofty self-devotion. 
Gaspard de Coligny .was sprung from an old Burgun- 
dian family, and was in early life distinguished as a 
soldier. He knew every branch of the soldier's trade, 
and to courage and coolness united a capacity for disci- 



114 Struggle of Catholids?n, dr'c. a.d. 1572. 

pline and military organization. He had undertaken the 
hopeless task of defending St. Quentin against Philip's 
army ; he had undertaken it though he knew it to be 
hopeless, and knew that his reputation would suffer 
through the failure. He was taken prisoner in the battle, 
and during his imprisonment a change came over his 
religious opinions, and he adopted the faith of Calvin. 
When the religious wars began in France, Coligny fully 
appreciated the momentous importance of the issue 
involved. He counted the cost, and gave himself 
unreservedly to the conflict. He asked his wife if she 
had the courage to face dangers, misfortunes, exile, 
and, if need were, death, — if she were prepared to ruin 
the future of her children for the sake of her religious 
convictions. His wife, as heroic as her husband, bade 
him go forth upon the path of duty without fear for her. 
In this spirit Coligny entered upon the strife. His 
mind was not under the sway of fierce passion, or 
desire for power, or thirst for fame. Sternly and sadly 
he undertook a sacred duty, which he carried out without 
being elevated by success or cast down by failure. 
Through evil report and good report he went upon his 
solitary way. His calm prudence and commanding 
temper enforced obedience upon his party, which re- 
spected and obeyed rather than loved him. High above 
the fierce passions, the mean intrigues, the unscrupulous 
self-seeking, which distinguished France in his age, his 
figure rises as the one man endowed with a noble pur- 
pose, who felt laid upon him a mighty weight of duty, 
which he must carry unflinchingly to the end. 

Such was the man with whom Charles IX. now found 
himself brought into connection. Coligny had so strong 
Coligny's ^ belief in the possibility of a reconciliation 

P^^°*- between the two contending parties, that he 



THE 

NETHERLANDS 

IN THE TIME OF ELIZABETH 




Ruteell i Struthere.N. t 



AD. 1572. Alva^ s Taxation. 115 

went himself to the court to urge his views more decidedly. 
He endeavored to fan the king's dread of Philip II., 
and prevail on him to declare war against Spain, — a 
step which must aid greatly the struggling cause of Pro- 
testantism in the Netherlands. 

In that country Alva's savage measures had failed 
of complete success. He flattered himself at the 
end of 1 569 that he had put down heresy and had re- 
duced the provinces to obedience. It only ,, , 

, r -i ■ 1 /- , . Alva's taxa- 

remamed for hnn to carry out the rest of his tion of the 

, 1 ^1 . r .1 Netherlands. 

promise to make the provinces pay for the 
trouble they had given, and make them contribute large- 
ly to the royal resources for the future. For this purpose 
he devised a new scheme of taxation. Instead of grants 
of money being made by the states to their prince ac- 
cording to their sympathy with the purposes for which he 
proposed to use it, they were henceforth to pay accord- 
ing to a regular system. A tax of the twentieth penny 
(five per cent.) was to be paid every time real property 
changed hands ; a tax of the tenth penny (ten per cent.) 
was to be paid on all personal property or merchandise 
every time it was sold. 

Alva was a soldier and not a financier, or he would 
have known that these measures would involve the en- 
tire ruin of the commerce of the Netherlands. An active 
trading people, made liable to this tax of ten per cent, 
on every sale, would necessarily be unable to manufac- 
ture and sell any article at the same price as formerly. 
Instead of being the great merchants of Europe, they 
would be unable to compete with other countries whose 
productions were not subject to this heavy tax. Alva's 
endeavor to increase the royal income by extorting 
money from the Netherlands would really result in a 
diminution of the capital sum on which the taxes must 



ii6 Struggle of Catholicism, &=€. a. d. 1572. 

be levied, and would ruin the people without enriching 
the king. 

Men who had stood by Alva and applauded him in 
his severe measures against heresy now rose in opposi- 
tion against him. Loud outcries were raised in Madrid. 
In the Netherlands trade was at a stand-still, and men 
shut their shops rather than submit to the tax. Universal 
discontent and deep hatred towards Alva prevailed 
amongst the whole mass of the people. 

In this state of feeling it required very little to rouse 

the people to resistance. A sudden raid of 

ofTh?N^ a band of Netherlandish outlaws laid the 

therianders. foundation of the memorable revolt of the 

Netherlands. 

Among those who had left the Netherlands rather 

than submit to Alva, many were accustomed to the sea. 

These now, seizing upon vessels, cruised as 

of the Unked piratcs in the Channel, professing to make 

Netherlands. ^^^^ ^^ ^j^^ • ^^ ^j^^ ^^^^ ^f Orange. Hardy, 

brave, and cruel adventurers, they inflicted much damage 
on the Spanish ships, and found in England a ready 
market for their booty. Alva, in the beginning of 1572, 
remonstrated with Elizabeth on the shelter which she 
gave to these freebooters, who were at that time lying in 
some of the southern ports of England. Elizabeth, 
wishing to be conciliatory in a little matter, sent orders 
that the Netherland pirates were no longer to be supplied 
with provisions. Forced by hunger, the little fleet of 
twenty-four ships, under the command of a rude Flemish 
noble, William de la Marck, set sail from England for a 
foray. They were driven by stress of weather to enter 
the mouth of the Meuse, and came opposite the city of 
Brill. More in bravado than with any serious expecta^ 
tion of success, this handful of men, not more than 250^ 



A.D. 1572. Revolt of the Netherlafids. 117 

sent a message demanding the surrender of Brill. A 
panic seized the magistrates and citizens ; they fled and 
left their fortified city to the " water beggars," who took 
possession of the city in the name of the Prince of 
Orange, stadtholder of the king. 

The failure of an attempt to regain Brill for the 
Spaniards gave additional courage to the Netherlanders. 
Flushing was the first to expel its Spanish government. 
The example was followed by all the chief cities of 
Holland and Zeeland, and many of the cities of Gelder- 
land, Oberyssel, and Friesland. By the middle of 1 572 
a large portion of the Netherlands was in open revolt 
against Alva. 

Meanwhile Count Louis of Nassau had been busy in 
France, where he enlisted the sympathies of the Hugue- 
nots, who sent out forces under Genlis to ^ , , , 

French help 

aid him in a bold scheme which he had totheNe- 
formed, of surprising Mons, the chief city ^^^" ^' 
of Hainault. His surprise was successful, and Alva saw 
himself assailed on two sides. In the north the land 
was in rebellion ; in the south a rising was being pro- 
moted by French help. When it was too late he abo- 
lished his tax of the tenth penny. The revolt had now 
taken shape. Representatives of the Estates of Holland 
met at Dort in July, and recognized the Prince of Orange 
as the king's lav/ful stadtholder in Holland, Zeeland, 
Friesland, and Utrecht. There was no talk of throvv-ing 
off their allegiance to Philip II. ; but against the despotic 
system of government introduced by Alva they set up 
their old constitution. The Prince of Orange had been 
appointed by Philip stadtholder of Holland in 1569; 
him they would follow in maintaining their lawful privi- 
leges against tyrannical governors. The revolt of theNe- 
therlands was not directed against Philip's legitimate au- 



1 1 8 .5"/. Bartholomew^ s Day. A . d . 1572. 

thority, but against the arbitrary use of his authority to 
introduce constitutional changes to which the Estates 
had never agreed. 

Alva's first step was to send his son, Don Frederic de 
Toledo, to besiege Mons, which could not be defended 
unless speedy reinforcements arrived. Genlis had hur- 
ried to France to raise fresh troops, but was defeated 
by Don Frederic outside Mons, and few of his reinforce- 
ments reached the city. Still Count Louis hoped for 
greater succors, and the fate of Mons depended on Co- 
ligny's influence over the French king. 



CHAPTER V. 

ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 

CoLiGNY had cast over Charles IX. the spell of his 
powerful mind, and the king inclined more and more 

to his view of war with Spain in the Nether- 
riot against lands. But the queen-mother was alarmed 

at Coligny's power ; if he were to succeed, 
her influence over the king would be gone for ever. She 
made common cause with the Catholic party, resolved 
that at any cost Coligny's plans should fail. She joined 
with the widow of the murdered Francis, Duke of Guise, 
and the two women plotted Coligny's assassination. A 
gentleman attached to the house of Guise, Maurevert, 
shot at Coligny (August 22) as he was slowly entering 
his house engaged in reading a letter. The shot was 
fired from the window of a house opposite ; it wounded 
Coligny in the arm, but the wounds were not dangerous. 



A, D. 1572. Scheme of Massacre. 119 

It was clear that an inquiry would be made into the at- 
tempted assassination. Catherine was not a woman to 
shrink from carrying out a scheme she had undertaken. 
Coligny must be got rid of, and the king must be res- 
cued once for all from his influence. His wounds gave 
him greater hold upon the king's sympathies. The Hu- 
guenots gathered round him demanding vengeance. 
They were prepared to go in a body to the king, and de- 
nounce the Duke of Guise as the assassin ; they mut- 
tered threats of what they would do if they failed to ob- 
tain redress. Men's passions had grown fiercer. The 
populace of Paris prepared themselves to defend the 
Guises against an attack of the Huguenots. The Hu- 
guenots stood sullenly opposed to the excited populace 
amongst whom they lived. 

Coligny had striven for the reconciliation of the two 
parties ; of this the marriage of Henry, the young King 
of Navarre, with Margaret of Valois, the 
French king's sister, (August 18), had been Paris and 
regarded as the pledge. The Prince of Na- nots. 
varre, after his father's death, had become 
the titular head of the Pluguenot party. His marriage 
with Margaret was to bring the two parties together, and 
the Huguenots had streamed into Paris to be present at 
the festival, and make a demonstration of their power. 
The people of Paris had received them with silent 
threats. They themselves were fanatically Catholic, and 
saw with hatred Coligny enter the city and take his place 
at the royal council by the side of Henry of Anjou and 
Henry of Guise. The attempted assassination of Coligny 
awoke all the deepest passions of both parties. Catholics 
and Protestants alike began to gather apprehensively 
round their chiefs. 

In this excited state of popular feeling Catherine and 



I20 • St. Bartholomew'' s Day. a.d. 1572. 

the Guises saw their safety. The king was perplexed at 
finding that his mother was privy to the at- 
mi^sSi-?.°^ tempt on CoHgny's Hfe. She repeated to^ l, 

him exaggerations of the wild words and 
threats uttered by the Huguenots. She showed him 
their armed bands in the streets, and asked if a royal (I 
army could be raised to meet them. She warned him 
that soon the royal power would pass entirely into the 
hands of Cohgny. She stirred up the king's feeble mind 
to alarm, and then suggested to him the way out of the 
difficulty. All the chiefs of the Huguenots were in Paris, 
caught as in a net. It only needed a word from the king 
to arm the people of Paris against them, and rid him- 
self of his enemies at one stroke. 

The scheme was not premeditated, nor had the Hu- 
guenots been deliberately invited to the capital to be 
massacred. Perhaps old plans of a general massacre 
for the suppression of Protestantism, which had been 
suggested in former times by Philip II. recurred to 
Catherine's mind. But the plan in itself arose to her 
Italian brain as a possible means of extricating herself 
from her present difficulties. To rid himself of his ene- 
mies at one blow was a device sometimes adopted with 
success by an Italian tyrant in his small state. Cathe- 
rine believed it possible in France. At first Charles IX. 
shrank with horror from the proposal. Catherine rea- 
soned in its favor as an act of policy, appealed to 
Charles's affection by declaring that her life was no 
[onger safe in Paris, and at last taunted the feeble youth 
tvith want of courage. Charles was stung by his mother's 
taunt. He gave his assent to the plan, and when once 
his assent had been given he hurried on with feverish 
excitement. 

Early in the morning of St. Bartholomew's Day, Sun- 



A. D. 1572. Effects of the Massacre. 121 

day, August 24, the massacre began ; it was known in 
after days by the bitter name of the " Paris 
Matins." The Duke of Guise himself super- mew's Day. 
intended the murder of CoHgny ; the corpse "^' ^"*' ^^'^^" 
was thrown out of the window into the court-yard where 
Guise stood. All the Huguenot chiefs, except only the 
two princes, Navarre and Conde, were put to death. 
On every side the bells rang ; and the populace in the 
king's name stormed and robbed the houses of the 
Huguenots and murdered their masters, who were en- 
tirely taken by surprise. It was a night of horror. 
Private revenge and personal hatred ran riot under the 
protection of the royal authority ; religious fanaticism 
sheltered itself under the name of patriotism. A terrible 
fury had seized the people. For years they had been 
disturbed and disquieted by Huguenot rebellion ; it 
needed but a few sharp hours of determined action, 
and these disturbers of the peace would be got rid of 
forever. 

The fury spread quickly from town to town. The roy- 
al orders were everywhere acted upon, and for days the 
massacre went on. It is difficult to estimate 
the number of victims ; the calculations Effects of the 

' ^ massacre. 

vary between 25,000 and 100,000 in the 
whole of the kingdom. In the excitement of the act, 
its terrible significance was not regarded by those con- 
cerned. The king rejoiced that at last he had acted de- 
cidedly and had become a king indeed. Catherine 
thought that she had freed herself from her enemies and 
had wrought a good deed for her country at the same 
time. The Catholic powers exulted over this victory of 
Catholicism. Gregory XIII. , who had but lately become 
Pope, ordered a " Te Deum " to be sung in honor of the 
event, and went in solemn procession to be present at 



122 St. Bartholomew's Day. a. d. 1572. 

the thanksgiving. Philip forgot his usual severity of 
manner, and laughed for joy. No doubt the atrocity of 
the deed was not known at first. It was believed that a 
plot of the Huguenots had been discovered, that their 
designs had been anticipated, and that they had met 
with the punishment that was their due. In England 
only was the moral bearing of the massacre at once per- 
ceived ; a shudder went through the land at the thought 
that a king should arm one part of his people against 
another. The French ambassador was long refused an 
audience of the queen ; and when at last he was admit- 
ted, he was received in solemn silence by the queen and 
court, who were all dressed in mourning. 

In the Netherlands the events which we have been 
relating produced the most disastrous results. The pa- 
triots saw themselves cut off from any hope of French 
help. Orange, who was advancing to the relief of Mons, 
Effects on the was driven back into Holland, and Mons was 
Netherlands. compelled to surrender. The rebellion was 
crushed in the southern provinces ; and the Spanish 
troops, by their atrocities, exacted a terrible revenge. 
Alva sent orders that every town which refused to ad- 
mit a garrison should be besieged, and all its inhabitants 
be put to death. At Mechlin, Zutphen, and Naarden, 
these orders were almost literally carried out. Alva was 
consistent in his policy of crushing rebellion by the ex- 
ample of terrible severity. 

But the men of Holland and Zeeland were not to be 
crushed without making an effort, and a struggle now 
began which has made the name of Holland memorable. 
It was a struggle conducted on both sides with desparate 
bravery and determined daring. Marvels of force and 
cruelty attract our attention as much as marvels of pa- 
triotism and self-devotion. The Spanish soldiers were 



A. D. 1573- Siege of Haarlem. 123 

unequalled in Europe ; they were devoted to their leader 
and zealous for the Catholic cause ; they fought with as 
much desperation and fury as did the burghers, whose 
only hope of life lay in their courage. The struggle 
which now began is marked by matchless deeds of valor 
on both sides. 

An attempt on the part of the patriots to obtain pos- 
session of the town of Goes, in South Beveland, led to 
a wonderful exploit on the part of the Spa- 
niards. South Beveland is an island lying off '^&%^ of 
the mouth of the Scheld. It had once 
formed part of the mainland, but the sea in a heavy 
storm had dashed away the dykes, and now ran in a 
channel, ten miles broad at its narrowest part, between 
South Beveland and the shore of which it had once 
formed part. Goes was invested by the patriots, and 
the Spaniards were cut off by the fleet of the Zeelanders 
from sending reinforcements. Determined not to lose 
the town, they formed the bold undertaking of wading 
along a narrow causeway on the " Drowned land," as it 
was called. The water on this narrow causeway was 
four feet deep at low tide, and rose with the tide ten feet. 
It was a terrible hazard for the band of 3,000 men who 
undertook this journey of ten miles by night with the 
water reaching up to their shoulders, A few false steps 
and they would be lost ; if they failed to accomplish their 
task in six hours, the rising tide would sweep them away. 
Yet such was the disciphned precision of the Spanish 
soldiers, that of the three thousand only nine were lost 
on the way. The rest reached Beveland in safety, and 
Goes was saved. 

The siege of Haarlem is again famous for the desperate 
courage of the patriots. When summoned 
to admit a Spanish garrison, the men of Haarlem. 



124 St. Bartholomew' s Day. a. d. 1573. 

Haarlem determined to resist. Their fortifications 
were weak ; their garrison was only 4,000 men, while Don 
Frederic de Toledo led against them 30,000 veterans. 
Yet for seven months they kept the Spaniards at bay, 
and only yielded at last to famine. Three hundred 
women armed themselves and fought in a regular corps. 
Assaults upon the city were repelled by the determina- 
tion of the citizens, who poured boiling oil and blazing 
pitch on their assailants. Women and children worked 
day and night to repair the breaches in the walls. When 
it was found hopeless to take the city by assault, the 
Spaniards tried to undermine the walls. The citizens 
made countermines, and sometimes the opposing parties 
would meet under ground and engage in savage contest. 
But the valor of the men of Haarlem could not hold out 
against famine. On July 12, 1573, the city surrendered. 
Its garrison was butchered, and the city was left a heap 
of ruins. Alkmaar was next attacked ; but the patriots 
resolved that the dykes should be broken down and the 
country round be swallowed up by the waters of the sea, 
rather than that Alkmaar should fall into the enemy's 
hands. 'The Spaniards, discovering this resolution, re- 
tired in dismay ; they had come to fight against men, 
not against the ocean. 

Thus, at the end of 1 573, it was clear that Alva's severity, 

so far from having broken the spirit of the Netherland- 

ers, had only stirred them up to the most 

Alva retires ' ^ 

from the Neth- Stubborn resistance. For seven years Alva- 
had tried his utmost; he was weary of his 
task, and Philip was convinced of the failure of his mea- 
sures. He was consequently allowed to return to Spain, 
where soon after, on a slight pretext, he and his son were 
imprisoned ; nor was Alva restored to favor till his military 
talents were required for an expedition against Portugal. 



A.D. 1573. Results of the Massacre. 125 

In the Netherlands a more pacific poHcy was adopted 
by Alva's successor, Don Louis de Requesens, who was 
governor for the next three years, 1 573-6. 

In France the result of the massacre of St. Bartholo- 
mew's had not been quite so decisive as the fanatics 
who had engaged in it had hoped. The Results of the 
moral horror of the deed dawned upon the BanhoicTmew'^s 
minds of its actors. Charles IX. was haunted ^^y- 
in his dreams by the terrible remembrance of that night; 
he sprang from his bed in terror; and to the excited 
minds of those around him, the air seemed to be filled 
with groans and shrieks. Even in the camp, men 
thought they saw the dice thrown by Henry of Guise 
stain the table with a mark of blood. 

Moreover, the general pohcy of France had been con- 
tradicted by this massacre, and when men's feelings 
settled down, it was seen to have been a mistake. Spain 
was the leader of the Catholic world ; and France could 
not hope to dispute that leadership with Spain. By the 
massacre France had lost her moderating position 
between the two parties. All dealings with the Nether- 
landers were broken off. The negotiations for the- mar- 
riage of Elizabeth with the Duke of Anjou were stopped. 
The Huguenots still held out against the royal troops in 
their cities of Rochelle, Nismes, and Sancerre. It was 
in vain that these cities were besieged ; they defended 
themselves with desperate heroism. Though many of 
the Huguenots had been massacred, and many had 
changed their religion through terror, still there remained 
too many to be put down by force. Moreover, the Poles 
were thinking of the election of the Duke of Anjou to 
their throne; but if Anjou were to become king of 
Poland, he must declare himself willing to mediate 
between the two religious parties, and to allow religious 
I 



126 St. Bartholomew's Day. A. d. 1574. 

freedom. For all these reasons the old policy of pacifi- 
cation again won the upper hand in France. In July, 
1573, free exercise of religion was granted to the towns 
of Rochelle, Montauban, Nisnies, and Sancerre. 

The Huguenots obtained peace for a while ; and the 
discords at court soon strengthened their hands. The 

youngest brother of the king, the Duke of 
Charks°ix, Alencon, openly opposed his mother. In 

the dissensions and quarrels that followed, 
a new party gradually gained ground. It was composed 
of men who for political reasons wished to maintain the 
edicts of toleration, and so to allow the fury of religious 
passions to settle for awhile. In this distracted state of 
things Charles IX. died, in May, 1574. His brother 
hastened to leave his Polish kingdom, from which he 
fled secretly, as he was afraid the Poles might put hin- 
drances in his way, and succeeded in France as Henry III. 
The next few years are free from any decisive events 
in Europe generally. The first outburst of the great 
commotions which mark the reign of Elizabeth had sub- 
sided. Things had begun somewhat to find their level. 

At first all was doubtful and uncertain. The 

chief actors had to watch eagerly for indi- 
cations which way fortune was likely to turn. It had 
seemed that the chances were greatly against Protes- 
tantism and Elizabeth. Elizabeth had never ventured 
to ally herself definitely with the Protestant cause. She 
had no rational hope that the Netherlands would give 
Philip so much trouble, or the Huguenots so long make 
head in France. Year by year Elizabeth's throne grew 
stronger. The failure of the rising in the north, and 
then of the Ridolfi plot, showed that she was firm upon 
her seat. England had been growing more united, more 
decided, more adventurous. A bold and eager national 



A.D. 1574. Summary. 127 

spirit had been growing up amongst the people. From 
the year 1572 to 1576 the country was quiet and secure. 
When again England came forward, it was no longer 
uncertain of its position or its destiny, but was prepared 
for a struggle with Spain which should determine the 
future of both countries, and should decide the fate of 
Protestantism in Europe. 



BOOK IV. 

HOME GOVERNMENT OF ELIZABETH. 



CHAPTER I. 

ELIZABETH AND HOME AFFAIRS. 

The events of the beginning of Elizabeth's reign suc- 
ceeded one another in such quick succession, that in 
tracing them up to this point we have seen 
Elizabeth only as a politician. We have asapoH- 
seen how, by a cautious though often tortu- 
ous policy, she had managed to preserve her own interests 
and those of England from foreign attack, and at the same 
time had fostered at home a feeling of national unity. 

In the full light which has lately been thrown upon 
the events of this time, it is easy enough to find fault with 
Elizabeth's policy, to show how selfish and ungenerous 
it was to upbraid her with indifference to the great inte- 
rests of Protestantism in general. But it must be re- 
membered that England, when Elizabeth ascended the 
throne, was not in a position to interfere decisively in 
the affairs of Europe. Its entire population barely 
reached five millions. The queen's revenues amounted 
to no more than 500,000/. a year. The treasury was in 
debt ; the coinage was debased. Commerce was languish- 
ing ; the people were poor ; there was a danger that 
religious difficulties would cause a civil war. It is 
scarcely reasonable to demand from Elizabeth a bold 
128 



Her Deceitfulness. i2q 

policy under such circumstances. She was compelled to 
husband the country's resources, to avoid war, to play 
off her enemies against one another. She 
learnt an economy which soon became economy, 
habitual to her and degenerated into stingi- 
ness. She took care to get from all around her as much 
as she could in the way of presents, and to make the 
scantiest returns. She sold her help to the Huguenots 
and to the Netherlanders at the highest rate she could. 
When Leicester died, the man for whom she felt as much 
affection as she was capable of, she dried her tears, and 
ordered that his goods should be seized in payment of 
money she had lent him. 

So, too, she learned to gain her ends by swagger, by 
threats, by underhand means, by subterfuges, by bare- 
faced has if these were convenient. It may be 
allowed that a cautious policy was necessary fuiness^"^'" 
for Elizabeth ; but no excuse can be urged 
for her unblushing deceit. She took to diplomacy with 
a woman's thoroughness and a woman's wilfulness. Act- 
ing with perfect seriousness, she often by her falseness 
produced a ridiculous caricature. She told lies that de- 
ceived no one. In both her letters and speeches she 
wrapped up her meaning in ambiguous phrases and 
complicated sentences, which it was impossible to under- 
stand with any precision. She gave orders in such a 
way that she might disavow them if she pleased. She 
liked her ministers to act without definite orders, some- 
times on their own responsibility, and then to bear the 
consequences if the scheme failed. 

She was averse to war, partly because it cost money, 
with which she grieved to part ; partly because war broke 
off the opportunities for diplomacy in which 
she thought that she excelled. But her "eacl?''^ 



130 Elizabeth and Home Affairs. 

motive was very greatly a generous feeling for her 
people, and a true instinct for the national wants. 
*'No war, my lords," she would often exclaim at the 
council, striking the table with her fist, " no war ; " and 
this resolve of hers often checked the great schemes of 
her more aspiring ministers, and enabled England to 
grow into its necessary strength. She felt no sympathy 
for the Netherlanders in their struggle with Philip ; their 
misery in no way appealed to her generosity. She drew 
out of their misfortunes all the commercial advantages 
she could to England. She only sent them aid when 
she was afraid they would cease to resist, and so make 
Philip too powerful. She never expected for a moment 
that they would make good their position as against 
Philip. She advised them to make peace with Philip, 
and could not understand their persistence about reli- 
gious freedom ; nor did she approve of subjects refusing to 
obey their prince in such matters. She was even ready 
to help Philip against them if she could gain thereby an 
advantageous settlement of England's difficulties with 
Spain. 

Elizabeth was indeed incapable of generous sympathy 
with a revolt against religious persecution ; for che was 
Her reii- ^^^ herself a woman of deep religious convic- 
gious views, tions. She was a Protestant chiefly because it 
was impossible for the daughter of Anne Boleyn to take 
her place in Europe as a Catholic sovereign. But though 
she was a Protestant she hated Puritanism, because she 
felt that the utterances of such a man as John Knox were 
widely opposed to her own ideas of a sovereign's position 
and power. She wished to see a religious system prevail 
which should rob Catholicism and Puritanism alike of 
their fanaticism, yet should be a genuine expression of 
the religious feeling of the people at large. She was an- 



Condition of the English Church. 131 

noyed at any attempts to alter the established ceremonies 
in either of the extreme directions, and was always ready 
to administer a corrective. When Puritanism seemed to 
be growing too strong, she set up a crucifix in her chapel 
and lit the candles upon the altar. When the Dean of 
St. Paul's thought to please her by putting on her cushion 
a richly illuminated Prayer Book, she frowned and put it 
from her, and scolded the dean soundly when service 
was over. 

It was, however, very difficult for her to maintain the 
moderate character which she desired to give to the Es- 
tablished Church. The clergy, who almost 
all retained their benefices in spite of the of°t he EtTg- 
religious changes made at Elizabeth's ac- iish church, 
cession, were, as a body, inclined to the old religion. 
The most high-minded amongst them had resigned their 
benefices rather than submit ; those who remained were 
the least zealous. The lower clergy did not number 
many men of education ; the country parishes were even 
sometimes handed over to the care of one who had been 
the squire's butler, or who deserved a pension from him 
for some service. It was difficult with such men as these 
to establish the new rites on an orderly footing ; and the 
queen was often angered by the news of some disorders. 
The marriage of the clergy especially, being a shock at 
first to the current popular sentiment on the subject, gave 
rise to many scandals. The clergy married unfit wives, 
and were not scrupulous how they provided for them. 
The church vestments and other possessions were some- 
times seen turned into ornaments for the clergymen's 
wives. This was especially a scandal in the case of 
cathedral chapters which had been under monastic dis- 
cipline. The queen forbade any member of a college or 
cathedral to have his wife living within the precincts. 



132 Elizabeth and Home Ajf airs. 

She dbliked the marriage of the clergy, and refused to 
rescind the law prohibiting it, which had been passed in 
Mary's reign. The marriage of the clergy was connived 
at but not legahzed ; and when the queen paid a visit to 
Archbishop Parker she took leave of Mrs. Parker, say- 
ing, " Madam I may not call you ; mistress I am loth to 
call you ; but I thank you for your cheer." 

The ecclesiastical difficulties of Elizabeth's position 

made themselves more and more distinctly felt as her 

reign went on. At first the idea of separa- 

Persecution . • -i ^n 1 

of the tmg from the national Church was not one 

Catholics. ^j^j^j^ suggested itself. Though the Catho- 
lics objected to Elizabeth's changes, they did not at first 
withdraw themselves entirely from the Church services. 
But as the conflict between the two religions became 
more definite, no further concessions could be made on 
either side. The Cathohcs, though they might not be 
openly disloyal, were still suspected of desiring the acces- 
sion of Mary of Scotland ; and after the bull of Pope 
Pius V. against Elizabeth, and the Ridolfi plot, the laws 
against Catholicism were made more severe, and were 
more rigorously carried out. 

Even as against Catholicism, Protestantism in England 

did not present an undivided front. The Puritan party 

submitted as little as did the Catholics to the 

tans "' ecclesiastical observances which had been 
estabhshed. They objected that much re- 
mained which savored of superstition. They tried to 
assert their right to disobedience. But irregularities in 
the conduct of the Church services seemed to the queen 
to be intolerable. Conformity in the use of the surplice 
was required by Archbishop Parker, and those clergy- 
men who refused to comply were suspended from their 
livings. They soon began to form conventicles, which 



Conditions of Ecclesiastical Affairs. 133 

were suppressed by law (1567), The Puritans, in oppo- 
sition to the law, began to form themselves into the sects 
of Protestant Dissenters in England. 

The great questions of the sixteenth and seventeenth 
century were religious questions. The difficulty was how 
to maintain the old political system, when ^ ,. . 

1 • • 1 1 • T 1 1 Conditions of 

the old ecclesiastical system, which had ecclesiastical 
been so closely connected with it, was over- ^"^^^'°"^- 
thrown. The reign of Elizabeth shows us how the old 
system, now everywhere conscious of its danger, was 
making efforts to reassert its ascendency. These efforts 
were repelled at first by the care and caution, afterwards 
by the vigor and energy, of England. But when Eng- 
land had made good its own position against foes out- 
side, there remained for Elizabeth's successors the 
adjustment of the limits between the old political system, 
as yet but slightly modified, and the nev/ ecclesiastical 
ideas. This adjustment was hard to make, when the 
idea of tolerance was equally far from all contending 
parties. Elizabeth ought not to be too severely found 
fault with as a persecutor, if, at a time when the nation 
was going through a fierce struggle for its existence, she 
demanded a definite basis of unity. The state adapted 
the old ecclesiastical system, with the fewest possible 
changes, to the new ecclesiastical ideas, and demanded 
after this measure of reform the same unconditional 
obedience as before. Those who were content with the 
old state of things, and those who wished for further 
change, were both of them to be reduced to a common 
measure. The change that had passed over England 
was not to cause division. She must still offer to her 
enemies, at a time when ecclesiastical matters were the 
chief matters of politics, an undivided front. On the one 
hand there was to be no breach with the old system of 



134 Elhadeth mid Home Affairs. 

European politics ; on the other hand there was to be 
freedom from all that v/as most degrading and weaken- 
ing in the old state of things. 

These were the views of Elizabeth and her advisers ; 
but they did not and could not know the strength of the 
forces against which they were contending. Not till after 
the struggles of more than two centuries was it seen that 
there are in man convictions too strong to be curbed by 
motives of political expediency. 

Ehzabeth's ecclesiastical system was not a permanent 

solution of the questions raised by the Reformation. 

She would neither broaden the basis of the 

»?'^v!-^^'^ ^^^ Established Church, nor would she allow 

the bishops. ' 

the formation of independent sects outside 
it. She left to her successors the task of solving the 
difficuties which this policy had wrought. For herself 
she was determined to keep the clergy in order by 
means of the bishops. Grindal, who succeeded Parker 
as Archbishop of Canterbury (1575), found to his cost 
that the royal supremacy was not a mere empty name. 
The queen was alarmed at the growth of a custom of 
clerical meetings, ' prophesyings,' as they were called. 
These meetings were meant for discussion, and for prac- 
tice in readiness of speech, that the clergy might be 
trained to preaching. The queen, however, did not ap- 
prove of preaching — to read the Homilies was enough. 
She did not like clerical discussions in the existing con- 
dition of religious opinion. She ordered the bishops to 
put down these prophesyings. When Archbishop Grindal 
refused to interfere he was suspended from his office, 
and for five years was not allowed to exercise his func- 
tions. 

Nor did the queen in other matters show to her bishops 
the respect which she demanded for them from others 



English Commerce. 135 

She would keep bishoprics vacant, and appropriate their 
revenues to her own purposes ; often she would detach 
a manor from their possessions in the interest of a 
favorite. When the Bishop of Ely showed some re- 
luctance to abandon to Sir Christopher Hatton the 
gardens of Ely House, the queen wrote him a peremp- 
tory letter — " Proud prelate, I understand that you are 
backward in com.plying with your agreement; but I 
would have you know that I who made you what you 
are can unmake you ; and if you do not forthwith ful- 
fil your engagement I will immediately unfrock you. 
Yours, as you demean yourself — Elizabeth." On an- 
other occasion, when the Bishop of London preached 
before the queen a sermon on the vanity of dress, the 
queen told her ladies " if the bishop held more discourse 
on such matters she would soon fit him for heaven ; but 
he should walk thither without a staff and leave his 
mantle behind him." 

Ehzabeth, however, acted wisely in the measures which 
she took for the restoration of commerce and prosperity 
within her country. The reign of Elizabeth 
is the epoch from which dates the naval and English 

^ commerce. 

commercial greatness of England, and the 
queen's care and attention contributed in no slight de- 
gree to this result. One of the earliest measures of her 
reign was the restoration of the coinage, which had been 
so debased by her predecessors that it was worth only 
one-third of its nominal value. To call in the debased 
coinage and melt it down, and to issue a new coinage 
whose worth should correspond to its intrinsic value, 
was no easy task for an impoverished exchequer. Yet 
it was accomplished without causing much hardship, 
and when it had been done, English merchants could 
again carry on their business with foreign countries. 



136 Elizabeth and Home Affairs. 

The most important branch of English commerce had 
always been the woollen trade with Flanders. English 
cloth was exported to the Flemish marts, and there sold 
to merchants from the rest of Europe. Twice every year 
the Company of Merchant Adventurers fitted out a fleet 
of fifty or sixty ships to convey their goods to the Nether- 
lands. It is computed that about 100,000 pieces of cloth 
were shipped thither annually. 

In 1553 a number of merchants and nobles equipped 
three ships to explore a northern passage to India. Two 
of them were lost in the ice; but the third, commanded 
by Richard Chancellor, made its way to Archangel, and 
laid the foundation of the trade with Russia. In 1557 
came an ambassador from the Emperor of Muscovy. 
The Merchant Adventurers rode forth to meet him in 
procession, dressed in velvet, with chains of gold around 
their necks, that they might impress the Muscovite with 
their wealth, and so make his countrymen desirous of 
trading with them. 

The increasing importance of English commerce was 
shown in 1 560 by the building of the Royal Exchange. 
Sir Thomas Gresham, a wealthy merchant who had 
lived long in Flanders, contrasted the splen- 
Exch?n^e^ dor of the Flemish traders with the discom- 
fort of London, where all business had to be 
done by merchants standing, in all weathers, on the nar- 
row pavement of Lombard Street. He accordingly erected 
a brick building, with a quadrangle inside, round which, 
on the ground floor was an arched colonnade supported 
on marble pillars, where the merchants might walk. Be- 
low were vaults for merchandize, and on the first floor 
were shops, from the rent of which Gresham hoped 
to reimburse himself. The Exchange was visited in 
state by Elizabeth, who was so pleased with it that " she 



spread of English Commerce. 137 

caused it by an herald and a trumpet to be proclaimed 
the Royal Exchange, and so to be called from thence- 
forth, and not otherwise." 

Commerce, however, is not a thing which it lies in 
the power of princes to develop by patronage, though 
they may help it by their general policy. 
Elizabeth managed to keep England in English 
peace when the rest of Europe was invol- ommerce. 
ved in war. Moreover her rule was economical, and 
the taxes were not oppressive. England under her was 
relieved from its public debt, and its capital found occu- 
pation in trade at a time when the commerce of the Ne- 
therlands was checked by disturbances. 

A spirit of naval adventure took deep root among all 
classes, and may be seen especially in the voyages of 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Martin Frobisher in quest of 
a north-west passage to the fabulous region of Cathay. 
The perils of the Arctic regions were experienced first by 
English seamen, and the line of investigation then 
opened out has ever remained peculiar to English enter- 
prise. 



CHAPTER II. 

ELIZABETH ; HER COURT AND MINISTERS. 

The wisdom of Elizabeth was shown in nothing so 
strongly as in her sagacity in the choice of ministers and 
her power of using men for her own pur- 
poses. The name most closely connected \^^^ ^"'■' 
with Elizabeth's government is that of Wil- 
liam Cecil, Lord Burleigh. First as secretary, afterwards 
as lord-treasurer, he was a member of the council, and 



138 Elizabeth J her Court and Ministers. 

always exercised the chief influence on the affairs of 
state. In those days the sovereign was his own prime 
minister, and his confidential advisers were chosen at 
his own will. Throughout the whole of Ehzabeth's reign 
Burleigh continued to be her chief minister. His advice 
was not always followed by the queen, and he had many 
opponents who never ceased to intrigue against him ; 
but he was the man who did most in moulding England's 
policy, and he retained the queen's favor till his death. 

William Cecil was born in 1520, and began a politi- 
cal career under Henry VIII. Under Edward VI. he 
was made secretary through the patronage of the Duke 
of Somerset. He lost his place when his patron fell, but 
regained court favor by drawing the articles of im- 
peachment against him. He was restored to office in 
1550, and contrived to keep himself so far free from any 
connection with Northumberland's plot that he received 
from Mary a general pardon. He lost his office as secre- 
tary, but lived in peace and conformed to the Catholic 
religion. He attached himself secretly and cautiously 
to the Princess Elizabeth, and gave her wise counsels to 
help her in the difficult position in which she was placed. 
When Elizabeth came to the throne, she at once marked 
her sense of Cecil's merit by appointing him council. 
" This judgment," she said to him, " I have of you ; 
that you will not be corrupted with any gift, and that 
you will be faithful to the state ; and that, without re- 
spect of my private will, you will give me that counsel 
that you think best." 

Cecil was not heroic, nor had he any elevation of 
character ; but his wary, cautious, compromising, sensi- 
ble character commanded Elizabeth's admiration, be- 
cause it coincided so well with her own. EHzabeth 
was partly conscious that her own caprices, or alarms, 



Sir Nicolas Bacon. 



139 



or fancies, occasionally impelled her to acts of folly 
against her better judgment. Cecil's calm and deliber- 
ate wisdom seemed to her to be the expression of her 
own higher self. She treated him often as men treat 
their conscience when it reminds them of unpleasant 
truths. She browbeat him, and abused him, and con- 
tradicted him ; she overwhelmed him with reproaches, so 
that he often left her presence in tears. But she always 
thought over his advice, and often, after a struggle, al- 
lowed it to prevail over her own inchnations. She did 
not entirely adopt Burleigh's policy, which was in favor 
of open opposition to Spain and earnest support to the 
Protestant cause in Europe. Elizabeth was more cau- 
tious in this than her cautious minister. She never for- 
got that her counsellors were, after all, the heads of par- 
ties, with their own interests to serve, while to her be- 
longed the care of the kingdom as a whole. It could 
not be but that Burleigh should wish to separate Eng- 
land from the Catholic powers, and make the succession 
of Mary of Scotland impossible ; for Mary's accession 
would certainly mean his own ruin. Elizabeth was not 
so clear about the question of the succession ; and she 
knew that the fear of Mary was the strongest bond to 
attach her ministers loyally to herself. 

Cecil's chief ally was his friend and brother-in-law. 
Sir Nicolas Bacon, the lord keeper, who by his second 
wife was father of the illustrious Francis Ba- 
con. More serious and thoughtful than BacSi!'°^^' 
Cecil, he contributed steadfastness and dig- 
nity to his friend's shifty policy. " He was a plain man," 
says his son Francis ; " direct and constant, without all 
finesse and doubleness, and one that was of a mind that 
a man should rest upon the soundness and strength of 
his own courses, and not practice to circumvent others." 



1 40 Elizabeth j her Court and Ministers. 

His motto, " Mediocria firma," showed his sound com- 
mon sense. When Elizabeth once remarked that his 
house was too small for him, " No, madam," he 
answered, "but you have made me too big for my 
house." He was a man of literary tastes and of refined 
mind. In the garden of his house at Gorhambury was 
built a room dedicated to the Seven Sciences ; its walls 
were adorned with an allegorical figure of each science, 
surrounded by portraits of her most eminent followers. 

We may take Cecil and Bacon as the chief representa- 
tives of the statesmen who clustered round Elizabeth, 
Elizabeth's ^.nd were recommended to their mistress by 
favorites. tj^ej^. ^isjom and ability. But Elizabeth's 

political advisers found their difficulties greatly increasea 
by the power of favorites who were merely courtiers, 
and owed their influence with the queen to their per- 
sonal qualities rather than their political wisdom. Eliza- 
beth was fond of magnificence and display. She never 
appeared in public without a splendid band of fol- 
lowers. Her body of "gentlemen pensioners" con- 
tained all the young men of the noblest families in 
England. Sir John Holies says that he did not know 
among the number a worse man than himself; and he 
was possessor of an estate worth 4,000/. a year. The 
nobles of England flocked to Ehzabeth's court, and were 
proud to be in attendance upon her. Besides her love 
of display, she was also glad to strengthen her own 
position by the personal tie which thus grew up between 
the nobility and herself. 

Thus her courtiers necessarily had great influence 
with the queen ; and her favorites from time to time had 
great political power. The fact that the queen was un- 
married tinged all their relations towards her with a dash 
of gallantry. There was in those days no conventional 



T}ie Earl of Leicester. 141 

bar to the marriage of an English queen and an English 
noble. The leading favorite approached Elizabeth with 
a mixture of a lover's familiarity and a subject's obedience. 
Elizabeth's personal feelings were strong. From political 
motives she refused to marry ; but she keenly felt the 
loneliness of her position and never ceased to long for 
intense personal attachment. She demanded of her 
favorites that they should devote themselves to her, as 
she had devoted herself to her conception of England's 
interests. Their marriages she regarded as so many in- 
sults to herself. Giving her affections as a woman she 
imposed restrictions as a queen, and was continually 
discovering, with grief and anger, that her favorites 
only behaved as lovers in her presence, and gave to her 
as queen the devotion which she longed for as a woman. 
The first of these favorites, who occupied the chief 
place in the queen's affections until his death in 1 588, was 
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. He was -j^j^^ ^.^^^ of 
the son of John Dudley, Duke of Northum- Leicester, 
berland, and is said to have been born on the same day 
and the same hour as Elizabeth. Recommended by his 
fine personal appearance and elegant manners, he rose 
at once in her favor. He was bold, ambitious, and in- 
triguing ; but his policy was directed only by self-interest, 
and the queen's partiality for him gave a weight to his 
counsels which they did not deserve. He was the great 
opponent of Cecil ; for he regarded Cecil as an obstacle 
to his entire power over the queen. It is certain that 
Elizabeth would gladly have married him, if she could 
have done so with prudence or even with safety. Leicester 
put himself at the head of the Pttritan party, mainly 
as a means of political power against Cecil. He was 
a man destitute of religious principles, and a notorious 
profligate. He was unpopular, owing to his arrogance, 
K 



142 Elizabeth; her Court and Ministers. 

and the blackest stories were told and believed against 
him. He was popularly believed to have rid himself of 
his first wife, Amy Robsart, at the time when there was 
most probability of his marriage with the queen. In a 
book called " Leicester's Commonwealth," supposed to 
have been written by the Jesuit Parsons, he is accused of 
every kind of murder and assassination. Certainly many 
of his enemies died most opportunely for his plans. So 
great was his influence with the queen that she forgave 
him even his second marriage with the Countess of 
Essex in 1 578. In her rage she at first threatened to 
imprison him in the Tower, and was with difficulty re- 
strained from making this public display of her feelings. 
Yet he had become so necessary to her that he was soon 
restored to her favor. 

Still Leicester's power was by no means unlimited. 
The queen's proud spirit could not brook the idea of de- 
pendence on any man. When it came to the point, 
Elizabeth would be roused and act for herself. One day 
an usher refused admittance to the queen's presence to 
a follower of Leicester's who had no privilege of admis- 
sion. Leicester threatened the usher with dismissal ; 
whereupon the man stepped before him, and kneeling 
before the queen told her the story, and asked whether 
Leicester were king, or her majesty queen. " My lord," 
she exclaimed, " I have wished you well, but my favor is 
not so locked up for you that others shall not partake 
thereof; for I have many servants, to whom I have, and 
will at my pleasure, bequeath my favor, and likewise 
resume the same ; and if you think to rule here, I will 
take a course to see you forthcoming. I will have here 
but one mistress and no master." " These words," adds 
Naunton, " so quelled my Lord of Leicester, that his 
feigned humility was long after one of his best virtues." 



ElizabetJCs Court. 143 

Leicester was not the only courtier who owed his 
position solely to the royal favor. Christopher Hatton, 
a young student of the Inns of Court, attracted the 
queen's attention by his elegant dancing at 
a masque. He left the study of law and HattoT^^^'' 
became a courtier. In due time he was 
rewarded by no less an office than that of lord chan- 
cellor. The lawyers were disgusted ; but Hatton was a 
prudent and upright man. He used the assistance of 
learned assessors in the discharge of his legal duties, 
and filled his high office with credit. He was the only 
one of the queen's favorites who died unmarried : but 
the queen's conduct to him was capricious ; she became 
tired of him, and he is said to have died of chagrin. 

Thus Elizabeth's court was a scene of wild adventure. 
Every young man who could gain admission 
there might hope to gain the queen's atten- ^y^^^*'^'^ 
tion and secure his own fortunes. Every 
kind of merit might hope for recognition from a sove- 
reign who could equally appreciate literature, bravery, 
and elegant accomplishments. The queen's favor, how- 
ever, had not only to be won, but also to be maintained 
against all rivals. The adventurous spirit which animated 
English sailors to perilous voyages in the New World, 
found occupation at home in more nimble feats of dex- 
terity, in climbing the deep ascent to royal favor and 
defending the passes to that perilous height. Spenser 
describes the courtier's position with vigorous bitterness 
of feeling : 

Full little knowest thou, that hast not tride, 
What hell it is in suing long to bide : 
To lose good days, that might be better spent ; 
To waste long nights in pensive discontent ; 
To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow ; 



1 44 Elizabeth j her Court ajid Ministers. 

To feed on hope, to pine with feare and sorrow ; 
To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares : 
To eate thy heart through comfortlesse dispaires : 
To fawne, to crouche, to waite, to ride, to ronne, 
To spend, to give, to want, to be undonne. 

Elizabeth was fond of making magnificent public ap- 
pearances, surrounded by the ladies and gentlemen of 
her court in their most splendid attire. Some- 
Elizabeth's times she v/ent on horseback, sometimes 

magnincence 

borne in a litter on the shoulders of her 
chiefest nobles. But most often did she go along the 
only broad highway of London, the royal barge with its 
rich drapery heading a long procession of attendant 
boats on the Thames. Sometimes she went with curious 
pomp, " a thousand men in harness with shirts of mail 
and corselets and morrice-pikes, and ten great pieces 
carried through the city, with drums and trumpets 
sounding, and two morrice dancings, and in a cart two 
white bears." 

Elizabeth thoroughly enjoyed the pleasures of royalty, 
and realized them to the full in her royal progresses. 
During her reign she visited, from time to time, her 

nobles and the chief cities of her realm. 
Progresses Everywhere her presence was a cause for 

entertainments and rejoicings. Everywhere 
she could enjoy the gratification of her vanity in the ap- 
plause which her affability won or in the admiration 
which her dignity inspired. Moreover her thrifty mind 
enjoyed magnificence doubly when she had not to pay 
for it. A courtier in disgrace knew that there was no 
better way back to favor than to solicit the costly honor 
of a royal visit ; and Elizabeth was always ready to re- 
ceive a present from the faithful burgesses whose city 
she condescended to visit. Sometimes her greed over- 



ri 



Elizabeth at Kenilworth. 145 

came her decorum. When she visited Norwich, the 
Mayor, after a tedious Latin oration, handed her a silver 
cup full of gold pieces, saying, " Sunt hie centum librae 
puri auri " (here are a hundred pounds of pure gold). 
The queen eagerly took off the cover and looked inside ; 
then with a pleased face handed it to one of her ser- 
vants, saying, " Look to it ; there is a hundred pound." 
We possess full accounts of many of these royal enter- 
tainments, from which much is to be learned about the 
taste and manners of the time. Most notable 

1 1 ,, • 1 1 Elizabeth 

amongst them are the * prmcely pleasures at Kenii- 
of Kenilworth," where in 1575 the Earl of ^°''^^' 
Leicester entertained the queen for nearly three weeks 
with a daily succession of shows and banquets. The 
queen was met some distance off by her host, with a 
brilliant cavalcade. On nearing the castle a giant por- 
ter, armed with a club, refused admittance to all till he 
saw the queen, when throwing away his club he pros- 
trated himself at her feet and gave up to her his keys. 
As she entered the castle a floating island on the moat 
approached the bridge over which she was passing, and 
a lady who had been in captivity since the days of King 
Arthur commemorated in a long poem her happy de- 
liverance through the terror of Elizabeth's name. The 
bridge itself was ornamented with posts, on each of 
which were seen the offerings to one of the heathen gods. 
Birds, fishes, fruits, musical instruments, and armor, ail 
were hung in their order as symbolical gifts to the queen. 
When the bridge was passed, at the entrance of the 
inner court a poet appeared, who recited a long Latin 
poem, explaining to the queen the meaning of all that 
she had seen. This reception may serve as a sample of 
the varied amusements which filled up the rest of the 
queen's visit. Every day had its own entertainment. 



1 46 EUzadeth j her Court and Ministers. 

Now there was a water party, when Arion on his dolphin 
drew near and sung the praises of the queen, accompa- 
nied by an entire orchestra who were stowed away inside 
the monstrous fish. Now there was a ride in the woods, 
where " Ombre Selvaggio," the wild man of the woods, 
overcome by the queen's dignity and grace, vowed 
henceforth to lay aside his savagery and live in her ser- 
vice. Echo too, in answer to appropriate questions, 
expressed her delight at Elizabeth's presence. Some 
days were given up to the chase, to hawking, and to 
bearbaiting. There were fireworks and tumbling feats 
when other amusements flagged. Nor were the sports 
of the common people disregarded. One day the queen 
was entertained by a band of rustics who represented a 
country wedding, and afterwards displayed their skill in 
tilting at the quintain. Another day the men of Coventry 
fought their mimic tournament, according to a yearly 
custom, in commemoration of a great victory over the 
Danes. 

Nor did the burgesses of the towns which Ehzabeth 
visited fall short of the nobles in the honors which they 

paid her. At Norwich, Mercury, attired in 
No?Sch! ^* blue satin lined with cloth of gold, with wings 

on his hat and on his heels, descended from 
a magnificent carriage at the queen's door, and invited 
her to go and see the revels. There was an elaborate 
masque representing Venus and Cupid, Wantonness and 
Riot, who, after many gambols, were put to flight by 
Chastity and her train. 

The queen's visits to the two Universities were also 
very characteristic. At Cambridge the Public Orator, 

on his knees, for more than half-an-hour 
Elizabeth at commemorated the queen's virtues. At first 

Cambridge. , -.,.,. . 1 1 -i 

she counterfeited indignation, shook her 



Elizabeth at Oxford. 147 

head and bit her fingers, exclaiming, " Non est Veritas, 

et utinam " (It is not the truth ; I would that it were). 

When he praised virginity, she called out, " God's bless- 
ing of thy heart, there continue." On Sunday, she heard 
a Latin sermon in the morning, and in the evening saw 
a representation of the Aulularia of Plautus in the Uni- 
versity church. As yet the wave of Puritanism had not 
swept over England and stamped a rigid Sabbatarianism 
on the popular mind. She visited all the colleges in 
turn, hearing at each a Latin oration, and receiving, 
amongst other presents, a splendidly bound volume full 
of Latin and Greek verses composed in her honor. 
She was besought to address the University in Latin ; 
and after a great show of reluctance, with many ex- 
pressions of diffidence and pleadings of her want of 
preparation, she delivered an elaborately prepared and 
turgid Latin speech, in which she held out hopes of 
imitating her predecessors by founding some new build- 
ing in the University. Perhaps her promise deceived 
no one ; Elizabeth's thrift prevented her from leaving 
any architectural monument of her taste or munifi- 
cence. 

At Oxford there was a similar tedious flow of orations ; 
and brains were raked to patch together a still larger 
collection of copies of verses than had been 
made at Cambridge. The queen was so far oSd* *' 
advanced in erudition that, after another 
show of bashfulness, she addressed the University in 
Greek. Better far than her speeches was her ready re- 
mark to the vice-chancellor, Dr. Humphreys, a dis- 
tinguished Puritan who opposed the views of the queen 
and Archbishop Parker. When he advanced in cap and 
gown at the head of an academic procession, the queen, 
as she gave him her hand, said with a smile, " That 



148 Elizabeth; her Court mid Ministers. 

loose gown, Doctor, becomes you mighty well : I wonder 
your notions should be so narrow." It was by sayings 
such as these that the queen won the hearts of the peo- 
ple, who can always appreciate keen homely wit and 
readiness of speech. 



BOOK V. 

CONFLICT OF CATHOLICISM AND PRO- 
TESTANTISM, 1576-83, 



CHAPTER I. 

STRUGGLE IN THE NETHERLANDS, 1 576-83. 

We must return from these peaceful progresses of Eliza- 
beth to the dangers which still surrounded her. In a 
sonnet she expresses her feelings : . 
The doubt of future foes exiles my present joy, 
And wit me warns to shun such snares as threaten mine annoy. 

There was still in England — 

"The Daughter of Debate that eke discord doth sow." 
So long as Mary of Scotland lived Elizabeth could not 
be free from fear. 

The danger that next threatened her was from the side 
of the Netherlands. Requesens did not long carry on 
his policy of pacification, as he died early The •' Spanish 
in 1576. Before a successor arrived the, ^ury." 
Spanish troops in the Netherlands mutinied to recover 
their arrears of pay. Philip II. was so impoverished by 
his many undertakings, that he could not supply the 
Netherland troops with money. They were determined 
to take matters into their own hands. They organized 
themselves under officers of their own appointment, and 
seized upon the wealthy city of Antwerp. The " Spanish 
Fury," as this attack was called, ruined the most flourish- 

149 



150 Struggle in the Netherlaiids. A. d. 1576. 

ing commercial city of Europe. Many of its citizens 
were massacred; its wealth was carried off and its 
merchants dispersed. The indignation caused by this 
butchery and pillage did much to bind together the 
Netherland States, of which two only were Protestant, 
while fifteen remained Cathohc. By the Pacification of 
Ghent (November 8, 1576), all the seventeen States 
bound themselves to expel the Spaniards, and agreed to 
sink religious differences for that purpose. 

Meanwhile the new governor of the Netherlands was 
hastening thither to realize great plans for his own future. 
Don John of I^^n John of Austria, the natural brother of 
Austria. Philip II. was now in his thirty-second year, 

and was the most renowned General in Europe. His 
victory at Lepanto had filled his mind with ambitious 
dreams. He had made his brother an offer of conquer- 
ing the Moors in Tunis, if he might be allowed to rule 
that country as king. The Pope supported him in his 
request ; but Philip, who was conscious of his own want 
of military capacity or gifts to win popularity, was 
alarmed at the prospect of a rival. He sent his brother 
to the Netherlands to keep him out of the way. But 
Don John went there with a still more brilliant scheme, 
for which likewise he had obtained the papal sanction. 
He was resolved to pacify the Netherlands rapidly, and 
then with his Spanish troops cross over to England, put 
himself at the head of the Catholics, liberate and marry 
Mary, and rule as king. This plan did not long escape 
Philip's vigilance. He was doubly alarmed, but could 
take no open step against it. It was lucky for Elizabeth 
that Don John had not arrived earlier. The Pacification 
of Ghent had already been formed, and gave the Nether- 
lands a solid basis of resistance which might withstand 
delusive promises of redress. 



-1577- Don John of Austria. 151 

Don John had with difficulty obtained Philip's consent 
to his attack on England, on the condition that it was 
made with Spanish soldiers only. His first 
object therefore was to quiet the Netherlands ^^^J^^^'^ 
and draw off the Spanish troops to England. 
Negotiations were at once begun ; and the Netherland 
Estates demanded the ratification of the Pacification of 
Ghent, the maintenance of their old customs and char- 
ters and the immediate withdrawal of the Spanish troops. 
On this last point Don John labored to have a delay of 
three months, and provision for their removal by sea. 
The States, however, were obstinate in demanding their 
immediate withdrawal by land. It was in vain that Don 
John urged every plea he could invent for the delay. 
The Netherlanders had made up their minds, and he 
was at last compelled to yield the point. He saw with 
despair his hopes destroyed for the present. All uncon- 
sciously the Netherlanders had saved England from a 
great danger, and had freed Philip from anxious alarm. 
Phihp was rejoiced to see his brother's ambitious schemes 
disappointed, and was determined to let his haughty 
spirit wear itself out in the hopeless task of reducing the 
Netherlands without an army. 

The demands of the Netherlanders were agreed to by 
the Perpetual Edict, February 17, 1577. The Spanish 
troops were withdrawn, and Don John was Failure of 
left to face the difficulties of his position. ^°" J°^"- 
His restless mind could not adapt itself to carry out a 
gentle and yielding policy. He was naturally looked upon 
with suspicion by the people. He had neither patience 
nor forbearance for the task imposed upon him. More- 
over Phihp was bent upon his destruction. A plot was 
laid by Philip's secretary of state, Antonio Perez, to draw 
treasonable expressions from Don John. Feigning to be 



152 Struggle in the Netherlands. A. d. 1577. 

his friend, he wrote to him, and showed all his answers 
to the king. Don John's secretary, Escovedo, was sent 
to Madrid, where he was assassinated by the orders of 
Perez with Philip's connivance. Don John felt that he 
was surrounded with an atmosphere of suspicion, and 
that he stood single-handed. He knew that his great 
schemes were hopeless, that he would be refused the ne- 
cessary means for governing the Netherlands and would 
be kept there until he had undone his previous reputation. 
The peace which had been agreed upon did not long 
continue. Misunderstandings arose between the Estates 
and Don John, and in October 1577 war was again de- 
clared. But the political issues of the struggle between 
Spain and the Netherlands had now broadened. The 
foremost man amongst the Netherlanders was the Prince 
of Orange. He had been the leading spirit in the con- 
test against Philip. As being a Protestant, however, he 
was disliked by the Catholic nobles, who accordingly 
invited the Archduke Matthias of Austria to put himself 
at their head. Matthias was the brother of the Emperor 
Rudolf; but he brought neither wisdom nor money to 
aid a feeble cause. Moreover there were hopes of help 
from France. The brother of King Henry HI. the Duke 
of Alencjon, or Duke of Anjou as he became on his 
brother's accession, put himself at the head of the party 
of Politicians and advocated the old pohcy of hostility 
against Spain. He occupied an almost independent po- 
sition in France, and many of the Netherland nobles 
looked to him for help. The prospect of this roused 
Ehzabeth to take more decided steps ; that the Nether- 
lands should become French would be as dangerous to 
England as that they should become Spanish. Elizabeth 
made a treaty of alliance with the Netherlands, lending 
them money and supplying them with troops. 



-157S. Alexander Farnese, 153 

The Netherlands, however, could do nothing in the 
field against disciplined Spanish soldiers. In January 
1578 they were defeated with great loss by Don John at 
Gemblours. But it was his last exploit. Worn out by 
despondency he fell a victim to a pestilence raging in his 
army, and died on October i, 1578, at the age of thirty- 
two, leaving a last request that his body might be buried 
in the Escurial, by the side of his imperial father. 

Don John was succeeded in the Netherlands by Alex- 
ander Farnese, Prince of Parma, son of Margaret, 
Duchess of Parma, who had been regent 
when the troubles in the Netherlands first ^irnese"" 
broke out. He soon proved himself to be 
admirably fitted for the task he had undertaken. He 
was the first commander in Europe, uniting bravery 
with coolness and decision. He could plan a campaign 
as well as win a battle, and in the art of besieging cities 
he was without a rival. Besides his military talents he 
had great powers of governing ; his manner was con- 
ciHatory, he was just and patient, and was resolutely 
fixed on carrying out by every means the end he had 
set before himself. He was moreover a keen politician, 
who delighted in spinning or unravelling with cautious 
prudence the web of diplomatic intrigue. It was not 
long before the results of his presence were felt in the 
Netherlands. He managed to take advantage of the 
differences between the Catholic and Protestant states. 
The Walloon provinces of the south, which were all 
Catholic, entered into a separate union. William of 
Orange, by the union of Utrecht, combined the seven 
provinces of Gelderland, Oberyssel, Holland, Zeeland, 
Utrecht, Groningen, and Friesland, to defend themselves 
against Spain and maintain their religious liberties. 
This "Union of Utrecht" was the foundation of the Ne- 



154 Struggle in the Netherlands, a.d. 1580. 

therland Republic. These seven provinces held together 
under the guidance of the Prince of Orange ; the other 
ten provinces gradually fell back into the hands of 
Spain, though on tolerably advantageous terms, as there 
were no religious difficulties in the way. 

In the face of this state of things William of Orange 
and the " nearer united provinces," as they were called, 
^, .,. . found it necessary to take decided steps for 

Phihp s con- "^ . ^ 

quest of their own preservation. In the early part 

ortuga . ^^ ^^ year 1 580 the war languished in the 

Netherlands ; for Philip's attention was turned to Portu- 
gal, the vacant crown of which he claimed through his 
mother, a daughter of King Manuel. He was opposed 
by the Duke of Braganza, and also by a natural son of 
the royal house, Don Antonio. But Philip's power 
carried all before it. Alva advanced into Portugal, and 
in fifty-eight days had expelled Don Antonio and re- 
duced the country under Philip. The conquest of Por- 
tugal was finished before any of the other powers of 
Europe had time to interfere. This accession to Philip's 
power increased his determination to reduce the Nether- 
lands, and filled the Netherlanders with dismay. But it 
also awoke the jealousy of France and England, and 
made open resistance to Spain more necessary. The 
European conflict, which for a few years had seemed to 
be lulled, awoke with greater intensity than before. 

Philip II. and his advisers were convinced that the 
Prince of Orange was the great obstacle to the reconquest 
Philip's ban of the Netherlands. In March, 1580, Philip 
Pn^nce"f^ published a solemn ban, in which he re- 
Orange, counted all the crimes of WUliam of Orange, 
and exposed him " as an enemy of the human race." 
Any one who delivered him up, alive or dead, was to re- 
ceive twenty-five thousand crowns of gold, and to be 



-1 581. Abjuration of Allegiance. 155 

ennobled for his valor. To this William replied in a 
famous " Apology," in which he denounced unsparingly 
the misdeeds of Philip, and in the noblest tones asserted 
the lawfulness of his own patriotic endeavors. But it was 
necessary for him to prepare for a long conflict, and to 
strengthen the Netherlands by foreign help. At the 
earnest request of the estates of Holland and Zeeland he 
accepted on July 5, 1581, the sovereignty over those two 
provinces as long as the war should last. At the end of 
the same month all the provinces which had not yet 
made terms with Parma abjured by a solemn act the 
sovereignty of Philip. He had not fulfilled his duties as 
their protector ; he had destroyed their ancient liberties 
and treated them as slaves ; he was not their prince but 
their tyrant, — as such they lawfully and reasonably 
claimed to depose him. 

The Netherlands prepared themselves for open fight. 
They could not hope to cope with Philip single-handed ; 
but by abjuring his sovereignty they could 
put themselves under the protection of the Anjou made 
powers opposed to Spain. The Archduke thl^Nefher- 
Matthias of Austria had been useless to ^^"'^^• 
them. He was dismissed with thanks, and the Duke of 
Anjou was elected sovereign by all the States except 
Holland and Zeeland, who would have no head but 
William of Orange. They hoped that the old hostility 
between France and Spain might be revived, and that 
as Henry H. had defended the oppressed Germans 
against Charles V., so Henry III. might maintain their 
cause against Philip. Moreover there was a project of 
marriage between Elizabeth and the Duke of Anjou. If 
this had been brought about, a union would have been 
formed between England and France in opposition to 
Spain; political motives would have once more pre- 



156 Struggle in the Netherlands. a . d . 1 5 8 1 . 

vailed over religious dissensions, and the old system of 
European politics would have been re-established as it 
had been before the Reformation. 

The wooing of the Duke of Anjou is ludicrous enough 
in the accounts which have come down to us. It is dif- 

, . , ficult to believe that Elizabeth, at the mature 

Anjou s 

wooing of age of 48, could have any deep affection for 
her ill-favored suitor, who was 20 years 
younger than herself. Francis of Anjou was small and 
badly made ; his face was marked with small-pox, his 
skin was covered with blotches, and his nose was swollen 
to double its size. His voice was harsh and grating ; 
EHzabeth used to call him her " Frog." No doubt Ehza- 
beth was ready to marry him, and was nearer to marriage 
with him than with any of her previous suitors, because 
she thought that through him her pohtical position might 
be securely established. Yet she was resolved to be 
quite sure on this point before committing herself. 
Meanwhile she behaved with all the coyness of a bash- 
ful girl ; she allowed her subjects to think that her mind 
was made up, and waited to see the result. A pamphlet 
appeared, by a young lawyer of the name of Stubbs, 
called '' The Discovery of a Gaping Gulf, wherein Eng- 
land is like to be swallowed up by another French Mar- 
riage, if the Lord forbid not the banns by letting her see 
the sin and punishment thereof" The book was sup- 
pressed by royal proclamation, and Stubbs was sentenced 
to the amputation of his right hand. After the execu- 
tion of his sentence Stubbs waved his hat with his left 
hand and cried " God save the queen." But Elizabeth 
learned from the feeling then displayed that the English 
Protestants looked with disfavor on a French marriage. 

Meanwhile, in the summer of 158 1 the Duke of Anjou 
advanced into the Netherlands, compelled the Prince 



1583- Anjou in the Netherlands, 157 

of Parma to relinquish the siege of Cambray, and 
garrisoned the town. Then disbanding his army he 
crossed over to England to pursue his wooing. The 
articles of the marriage treaty were concluded ; but still 
Elizabeth wavered. When it came to the point, she 
doubted if France would really hold to the offensive and 
defensive alliance which she demanded ; she doubted 
how her marriage would affect her own position and 
power. Anjou was received with every sign of affection. 
After a splendid festival the queen, in the presence of 
her court, drew a ring from her finger and placed it upon 
his. But after three months' wooing, during which time 
Elizabeth showed him all possible regard, her mind was 
still not made up. Anjou departed, for he could be no 
longer absent from the Netherlands. Elizabeth herself 
accompanied him to Canterbury, and took leave of him 
with tears. A splendid retinue of English nobles was 
sent to accompany him, and Elizabeth wrote to the 
Estates General of the Netherlands requesting them to 
honor him as if he were her second self. Perhaps she 
wished to see how Anjou would succeed in the Nether- 
lands before committing herself to him. She wished 
still to have it in her power to resume negotiations for 
marriage, if she were convinced that it would be advan- 
tageous to her. 

In February, 1 582, Anjou was installed in Antwerp as 
Count of Brabant, and soon afterwards was accepted by 
the other united provinces, except Holland . . . 

^ ^ _ ^ Anjou in 

and Zeeland, as their prince. In every case the Nether- 
he received the old constitutional sovereign- 
ty, and was bound to maintain the old liberties. He soon 
chafed at the restraints by which he found himself sur- 
rounded. He complained that the real power was in the 
hands of the Estates General, and that he was prince 

L 



158 Struggle in the Netherlmids. a.d. 1584. 

only in name. A plan was accordingly formed among 
his French officers of seizing on the most important cities, 
and making Anjou supreme by force. Anjou himself 
planned the surprise of Antwerp. On January 17, 1583, 
the French troops suddenly dashed through the streets 
of Antwerp crying out, " Vive la messe ! vive le due d' An- 
jou!" The citizens were at first surprised, and the 
French dispersed to plunder. But the burghers soon 
recovered themselves and threw up barricades in the 
streets. The French were driven out with great slaughter, 
and Anjou, who was eagerly awaiting the result outside 
the gates, had to retire baffled. 

This act of deliberate treachery awoke the deepest 
resentment among the Netherlanders ; but William of 

Orange was anxious to avoid any rupture 
treachery. '^^^^ France. The year was spent in futile 

negotiations with Anjou, who at last retired 
to Paris, where he died in June, 1584. He was a man 
entirely destitute of any principles ; his sole motive was 
a vain-glorious desire for his own advancement. His ap- 
pearance is ludicrous in the history of England, and 
contemptible in the history of the Netherlands. If he 
had won a battle against the Spanish forces in the 
Netherlands, the result might have been most im- 
portant. French help might have been openly given 
against Spain ; he might have married Elizabeth, and 
England and France might have united in a great effort 
against Spain on the battle-field of the Netherlands. As 
it was, he strengthened the hands of the Duke of Parma ; 
for his presence at Cambray gave a reason to the provinces 
which favored Parma for admitting Spanish troops ; if they 
had not done so, Parma's hands would have been tied. 
Lastly, Anjou' s treacherous attempt against Antwerp 
spread distrust and confusion among the united provinces. 



A.D. 1521-37- The Jesuits, 159 



CHAPTER II. 

THE JESUITS AND THE CATHOLIC REACTION. 

We must turn our attention from these political struggles 
to consider the shape which the antagonism between 
Catholicism and Protestantism had assumed, and the 
means by which Catholicism was aiming at its re-estab- 
lishment. 

The most powerful weapon for effecting the Catholic 
restoration was the Order of the Jesuits. This Order 
owed its origin to a young Spanish knight, 
Don Inigo Lopez de Recalde, known as jeluUs/ ^ 
Ignatius Loyola. As a young man his 
mind was filled with the aspirations of Spanish chivalry, 
which still bore a strong crusading color from the recent 
wars against the Moors. At the siege of Pampeluna, in 
1 521, Ignatius was wounded in both legs. After a long 
and tedious illness he recovered, but was lamed for life. 
During the weeks spent in bed his chivalrous fancies 
had received a religious tinge, which went on deepening 
afterwards. His mind gradually passed from the idea 
of worldly to that of spiritual warfare, and he trans- 
ferred to his new quest the visions and feelings which 
had moved him in his first pursuit of arms. His imagi- 
native mind was filled with fancies and apparitions, and 
the fervor of his enthusiasm kindled the minds of others. 
He found in Paris, where he went to study, two men of 
remarkable powers of mind who shared his own mystic 
beliefs, Peter Faber, a Savoyard, and a Spaniard, Fran- 
cesco Xavier. They formed themselves into a little 
band, bound by the vows of chastity and poverty ; they 



i6o The Jesuits and the Catholic Reaction. 1537 

swore to devote themselves to the spread of Christianity 
and to go where the Pope bade them. In 1537 they 
weat to Rome, and called themselves by the military 
name of Jesuits, — the Company of Jesus. They added 
to their previous vows the vow of absolute obedience to 
their general, whom they elected for life ; and they 
placed themselves entirely at the disposal of the Pope. 
While the papacy was being shattered by defection on 
every side, this new society arose, bound by a vow of 
the most absolute devotion to the papal commands. 

This new Order was formed for active work, not for 
the cultivation of contemplative virtues. Its members 
wore no monastic habit and accepted no 
the orden clerical office. They devoted themselves to 
practical pursuits, — to preaching, to hearing 
confessions, and to the education of the young. The 
Order at once became powerful and rapidly spread ; it 
appealed to the chivalrous feeling which the struggle 
against Protestantism had awakened in the minds of 
those who clung to the old faith. Its internal organiza- 
tion was most rigid ; the principle of obedience was used 
to separate the Jesuits from every tie which binds the or- 
dinary man to his fellows. The Jesuit gave away all his 
possessions, cut himself off from his relations, laid aside 
all right of individual judgment, and obeyed his supe- 
riors without inquiring into the reason or object of their 
orders. 

The power of the Jesuits over society in general was 
founded chiefly on their efforts to promote education 
and their development of the system of the confessional. 
They worked together with order and arrangement. 
They were good and careful teachers, and got into their 
hands the instruction - of the young, as they took no 
money for their teaching. They also formed minute 



-1579' Catholic Attempt on Ireland. 1 6 1 

rules for the direction of men's consciences in an age 
when men's consciences were singularly awakened. We 
cannot wonder that such a society spread rapidly in the 
Catholic countries, and that its organization gave great 
strength to the Catholic reaction. A new spirit of zeal 
and earnestness was infused into the old ecclesiastical 
aystem, which had seemed to be crumbling away before 
the onslaughts of Luther and Calvin. 

Under this new impulse Catholicism exchanged its 
attitude of repression for one of aggression. The papacy 
again became a power which had forces at its command. 
In the Netherlands the influence of the Jesuits in the 
Walloon provinces, which remained devoutly Catholic, 
had been greatly instrumental in bringing them back to 
Spain. 

The growing strength of the papacy also encouraged 
it to attack England more boldly. We have seen how 
the excommunication of Elizabeth by Pius V. 
failed to move the English Catholics as a body amf the 
from their loyalty. His successor, Pope Gre- Papacy, 
gory XIIL, saw that it was necessary to secure foreign 
help against England ; his hopes were first fixed upon 
Don John of Austria, and we have seen how they were 
doomed to disappointment. The next hope of the pope 
was to strike a blow through Ireland, where the people 
still remained Catholic and refused to accept the English 
Prayer Book. It does not seem that any vigorous at- 
tempts were made to enforce its use ; but the Irish were 
represented to the Pope as groaning under religious op- 
pression. Gregory XIII. beheved that the Irish would 
rise at once in behalf of Catholicism, if only they received 
any small encouragement. An English exile, Thomas 
Stukely, received money from the Pope for the conquest 
of Ireland ; he was, however, diverted to an enterprise 



1 6 2 The Jesuits and the Catholic Reaction. 1 5 8 1 . 

against the Moors, where he met his death. But his 
confederate, James Fitzmaurice, brother of the Earl of 
Desmond, was resolved to try his fortunes alone. In 
June, 1579, he landed with a few Spanish troops in Ire- 
land, and took possession of the fort of Smerwick, near 
Kerry. The Irish, however, did not join him as he 
expected, and in a skirmish Fitzmaurice was killed. His 
brother, the Earl of Desmond, openly revolted, and, as 
the rising seemed to be gathering in force, a reinforce- 
ment of Spanish and Italian soldiers was sent to Smer- 
wick in 1 580. But the new deputy of Ireland, Lord Grey 
de Wilton, directed a vigorous siege against the fort, 
which was compelled to yield unconditionally. The 
English were embarrassed by the number of their pri- 
soners, which equalled that of their own force. They 
were, moreover, savagely determined to give a lesson 
against foreign intervention. Already a fierce hatred of 
the Spaniards as Catholic oppressors had begun to rouse 
the hearts of Englishmen. The garrison of Smerwick 
was disarmed, and then butchered by a body of troops 
under the command of Sir Walter Raleigh. The Earl of 
Desmond had no further hopes after this. The rebellion 
was crushed and severely punished. The papal attempt 
on Ireland had resulted only in failure. 

At the same time also a Cathohc attempt of a more 
insidious kind was made upon Scotland. Esme Stewart, 

_ , Lord of Aubigny, came from France to Scot- 

Catholic at- 1 , XT 1 r , , -r- , ,• 

tempt on land. He was a nephew of the late Earl of 

cot an . Lennox, and so cousin to the young king 

James VI., with whom he rapidly became a great fa- 
vorite. ' D 'Aubigny had been a member of the Guise 
party in France. The Scots saw with dismay his in- 
fluence over James, who created him first Earl, then 
Duke of Lennox. The favorite put himself at the head 



-1 5 8 1 . Jesuits i7i England. i ^2) 

of the faction opposed to the Regent Morton, who had 
made many enemies. In 1581 Morton was accused of 
having been a confederate in the murder of Darnley, 
and was beheaded in spite of Ehzabeth's attempts to in- 
terfere in his favor. Lennox now seemed supreme in 
Scotland, and it was suspected that he would again unite 
the Catholic parties in Scotland and France against 
Elizabeth, The Protestant feeling of the country was 
alarmed, and the hatred of the favorites on the part of 
the old nobles again found its expression in a bond. The 
Earl of Gowrie invited the young king to a hunt at his 
castle of Ruthven, where James found himself a prisoner 
in the hands of his nobles (August 1582). Lennox was 
banished from the kingdom, and died next year in 
France. The fear of Catholic influence in Scotland was 
for a time dispelled. 

Meanwhile an attempt had been made to establish 
the influence of Catholicism in England itself. The 
zeal of the Jesuits had been contagious, and 

, ... 1 • 1 . -1 , Seminary 

amongst other mstitutions to which it had priests in 

given rise was the English seminary at "^^" ' 

Douay. This was a college for the training of young 
English Catholics, who went to study abroad. It was 
founded in 1568, but, owing to the troubles in the 
Netherlands, was transferred from Douay to Rheims. 
In 1579 Pope Gregory XIII. founded an English college 
at Rome. Its members were pledged to return to 
England and preach the faith which they believed. 
We cannot wonder that the Jesuit enthusiasm seized 
these young Englishmen, and that they were determined 
to do and suffer anything, provided they might further 
their great object. 

In 1 580 the first of these Jesuit mission- Jesuits in 

aries, Parsons and Campion, set foot in England. 



164 The Jesuits and the Catholic Reaction. 1582 

England. Their success was at once very great. The 
English Catholics, who up to this time had given a kind oi 
passive conformity to the new services, plucked up 
fresh courage. Numbers flocked to the secret services 
of these bold priests, who in different disguises, and 
under changing names, traveled from place to place 
throughout the land. Persecution lent a zest to their 
preaching, and the words of men who spoke at the peril 
of their lives were then, as always, powerful. A print- 
ing press was also set up, from which proceeded books 
in defence of Catholicism, written by trained controver- 
sialists among the Jesuits. The Catholics awoke from 
their torpor and became conscious of their wrongs. 
They no longer could consent to attend the reformed 
services, or to recognize the validity of Elizabeth's 
ecclesiastical laws. If this organization had been 
carried out before the rising of 1 570, it is impossible to 
say what might have been the result. 

The government was thoroughly alarmed, and acts of 

parliament were passed, subjecting these missionaries 

to the penalties of high treason and in- 

Persecution . ^ ^ 

of the _ creasmg the punishments for recusancy. 

Any one being absent from church was 
liable to a fine of twenty pounds a month. The Catho- 
lics were subjected to severe persecution, and their 
houses were ransacked in search of concealed priests. 
Campion and other Jesuits were taken prisoners and 
condemned to death on the charge of conspiring against 
Ehzabeth. It was believed in England that secret plots 
were on foot against the queen's life. The Catholic 
countries of the Continent rang with stories of the 
martyrs' death and of the cruelty of the English queen. 
The fears of England were soon increased by the 
death of the Prince of Orange. The reward offered by 



-1584- Death of the Prince of Orange. 165 

Philip and the fanaticism inspired by the Death of the 
Jesuits combined to afford two powerful i'ri.ice of 

• <• 1 • IT n • Orange. 

motives for his removal. In 1 582, imme- 
diately after the installation of the Duke of Anjou, a 
Biscayan, Joureguy, had fired at th^ Prince, and 
wounded him in the neck. The assassin had amongst 
his papers a written vow to offer to the Virgin of Bay- 
onne a robe, a crown, and a lamp, to the Lord Jesus a 
rich curtain, if his attempt succeeded. For a while 
Orange's life was despaired of; but he gradually 
recovered. It was not long, however, before a more 
successful attempt was made. A Burgundian, Balthasar 
Gerard, found admittance to the Prince, and shot him as 
he was descending the staircase of his house at Delft 
(July, 1584). 

The death of Orange was a severe blow to the cause 
of Netherlandish freedom. He had given himself up 
heart and soul to the struggle against Philip, without any 
thought of his own aggrandizement, with entire devotion 
to the cause he had undertaken. Cautious and prudent, 
he yet shrank from no risks. On his own side he had 
to contend with the jealousy of the other Netherland 
nobles, who. could not endure a chief. He was matched 
against the most skilful warriors and the ablest politi- 
cians of Europe. Yet William, " the Silent," as he was 
called, moved cautiously among the dangers of his posi- 
tion, intent only on keeping the provinces united and 
determined in spite of reverses to persevere in their 
resistance against Spain. When he died his presence 
was particularly needed, as Alexander of Parma had 
been gaining over the cities of Brabant ; Ypres, Bruges, 
and Ghent had all fallen into his hands, and he had laid 
siege to Antwerp, which was anxiously looking to the 
Prince of Orange for succors. 



1 66 The Jesuits and the Catholic Reaction. 1584. 

About the same time also another conspiracy was dis- 
covered in England against Elizabeth. Its principal 

„. agent was Francis Throgmorton, whose plan 

ton's con- was to rcmove Elizabeth by assassination, 

spiracy. ^^^ ^^^ Mary on the English throne by the 

aid of Spain and the French Catholics. Throgmorton 
was executed, and as his papers inculpated the Spanish 
ambassador, Don Bernardino de Mendoza, he was called 
to account before the council ; on refusing to answer he 
was ordered to leave the country. It was an open de- 
fiance to Philip ; but Philip was too busy with other 
schemes to take any notice of it at the time. 

These constant plots against Elizabeth, and the deep 
impression of horror caused by the death of William of 
Orange, made loyal Englishmen combine in 
to pro°ecV°'^ defence of their queen. A voluntary asso- 
Enzabeth. ciation was formed, the members of which 

solemnly undertook to prosecute to the death all who 
should make an attempt against the queen, and all in 
"whose behalf such an attempt should be made. This 
was a threat against the imprisoned Mary, a warning to 
her party that her death would follow on the success of 
any plot against Elizabeth. The Cathohc assassinations 
were met in England by a stern threat of vengeance. 
The two parties stood in undisguised hostility the one 
to the other. 




Xuaaell ^ Struthera.N. T. 



BOOK VI. 

THE LEAGUE AND THE ARMADA. 



CHAPTER I. 

SPAIN AND THE LEAGUE. 

Philip II. meanwhile was occupied with larger schemes 
for the aggrandizement of the Spanish monarchy. At 
the beginning of the revolt of the Nether- pi^iiip h and 
lands his cautious temper had led him to ^'■^"^^• 
resolve to overcome the rebel provinces before proceed- 
ing to his greater undertakings. Now that the Prince of 
Orange was removed, and Alexander of Parma was 
winning town after town, it seemed to Philip that the 
revolt must soon be extinguished. The only hope of the 
Netherlands lay in foreign assistance. Elizabeth was 
not prepared to help them ; but they still had hopes from 
France. In the beginning of 1585 an embassy from the 
United provinces appeared at the French court, and 
offered to Henry III. the sovereignty as it had been ex- 
ercised by Charles V. ; they begged to be united to the 
French crown. Henry listened to their request, but at 
last declined it. Still his conduct was alarming to Philip 
II. Moreover, Catharine de' Medici had brought for- 
ward claims to the throne of Portugal, for which she 
demanded satisfaction from Philip. Philip was of opinion 
that the best thing he could do to advance the power of 

167 



i68 Spain and the League. a.d. 1585. 

Spain was to check the power of the French court, and 
obtain an influence over French affairs. 

The state of things in France invited him to interfere. 
Henry III. himself was unpopular amongst his nobles. 
Character of He surrounded himself with worthless favor- 
Henry HI. i^gg^ aj^jj spent his days in effeminate amuse- 
ments with these inignons of the court. He dehghted 
to appear in public in feminine robes of great magnifi- 
cence, with pearls hanging from his ears in a style 
of Oriental profligacy and luxury. He had no children, 
and the death of the Duke of Anjou excited men's 
minds about the question of the succession. The near- 
est heir of the blood royal was Henry, king of Navarre, 
whose marriage with the king's sister Margaret, had 
been the occasion of the massacre of St. Bartholomew's 
Day. Henry of Navarre was a Huguenot, and the pos- 
sibility of his succession was alarming to the French 
Catholics, and equally so to Philip of Spain. 

The religious struggle, as we have seen, was more 
violent, and offered sharper contrasts in France than it 
Formation of ^id in Other countries. The French Catho- 
the League. Y\zs saw with daily increasing disgust the 
toleration given to the Huguenots; the idea of a Hugue- 
not king was intolerable to them. The Catholic party 
gathered round the Duke of Guise, and it was easy for 
Philip to stir it into activity. The Alliance between 
Philip and the Guises was formed in January, 1585. It 
is known as "the League." Its object was to prevent a 
heretic from becoming king of France, by securing the 
succession of the Cardinal of Bourbon, a younger brother 
of King Anthony of Navarre, and so uncle to Henry of 
Navarre. Further, they agreed to extirpate Protestant- 
ism, not only in France but also in the Netherlands. In 
April the League published its manifesto, setting forth 



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169 



lyo Spain and the League. a.d. 1585. 

that subjects are not bound to recognize a prince who is 
not a Catholic. The interests of the nobles, the clergy, 
and the towns were all provided for. The Guises en- 
listed against the government the selfish feelings of 
every class. 

Had Henry III. possessed any force of character or 
any power of political insight, he would have made 

common cause with the Huguenots and the 
Srila' u^e ^°^ Netherlanders to repel this outrage upon the 

crown. As it was, however, his religious 
feelings overpowered all others ; he became a confederate 
with the Guises, and revoked (July 1585) the edicts of 
toleration to the Protestants. There was no longer any 
hope to the Netherlands of putting themselves under 
the protection of France. 

Meanwhile Alexander of Parma had been steadily 
advancing in his plans. On the result of the siege of 

Antwerp depended the fate of the provinces 
Siege of of Flanders and Brabant. Parma strained 

Antwerp. 

every nerve to insure its surrender, and 
carried out his plans for its capture with a perseverance 
and resoluteness which nothing could shake. The siege 
of Antwerp was long memorable in the annals of sieges. 
Antwerp, the great commercial capital of Europe, stands 
at the mouth of the Scheldt, where the river broadens 
into an estuary of the sea dotted with small islands. The 
strong places on the landward side were in Parma's 
hands. But Antwerp was too well fortified to be taken 
by storm, and it was impossible to blockade it so long 
as the river remained open. The flat-bottomed boats 
of the Hollanders could take advantage of any condition 
of the tide and bring supplies to the beleaguered city. 
Parma, however, made himself master of the banks of 
the Scheldt and built forts at such places as secured 



A. D. 1585. Siege of Antwerp. 171 

him the command of the navigation of the river. He 
then proceeded, during the winter of 1584, to build 
a bridge across the stream. The Scheldt was here 
60 feet deep and 800 yards broad; to bridge such 
a channel seemed to the besieged an impossible folly. 
But the Spaniards, beginning from either bank, slowly 
drove in their piles so firmly that their work withstood 
the huge blocks of ice that in the winter months rolled 
down the stream. When the piers had been built as far 
as was possible, the middle part was made sure by a 
permanent bridge of boats. In February, 1585, the 
Scheldt was closed. 

In Antwerp, however, lived an Italian engineer, 
GiambeUi, who proposed a means of breaking through 
this barrier. He took two ships, in each of which he 
built a marble chamber, filled with gunpowder, over 
which was placed a pile of every kind of heavy missile. 
These ships were floated down the Scheldt, but their 
meaning was disguised by some small fire-ships which 
sailed in front of them. The Spaniards spent their 
energies in warding off the fire-ships, and the other two 
struck against the bridge ; in one the match burnt out 
without reaching the powder, but the other took fire with 
a terrific explosion. A thousand Spanish soldiers were 
hurled into the air, and a breach of two hundred feet was 
made in the bridge. Confusion and panic terror struck 
the hearts of the Spaniards. But the men of Antwerp 
could not use their success ; the signal was not given to 
the Zeeland fleet which was waiting out at sea. No relief 
came, and Alexander of Parma, recovering at once his 
presence of mind, set to work with desperate energy to 
repair the breach. In three days the blockade was 
again established, and Parma awaited the end. Another 
desperate sally was made by the Netherlanders, who 



172 Spain and the League. a.d. 1585. 

succeeded in carrying one of the Spanish forts ; but they 
could not maintain themselves there against the valor 
of the Spanish troops when they were under their heroic 
leader's eye. The Netherlanders were driven back, and 
with their failure Antwerp's last hope was gone. The 
city capitulated on August 17, 1585 ; there was to be a 
general amnesty, but only the Catholic religion was 
to be tolerated; those who refused to conform were 
allowed two years to wind up their affairs and quit the 
city. 

When France had refused all help to the Netherlands 
and had admitted Spanish influence within its borders, it 
^,- ^ ^ J became evident to Elizabeth and her minis- 

Elizabeth sends 

troops to the ters that English help could no longer be re- 
fused. It was clear that England would 
soon be attacked by Philip II., and that every effort must 
be made to keep him employed. The States offered the 
sovereignty to Elizabeth, as they had done before. She 
would not, however, accept this, as she would not openly 
countenance rebellion ; she rather wished to give the 
States only just as much assistance as would enable them 
to maintain themselves against Spain, and she wished to 
help them at as httle cost as possible. Months were 
spent in haggling between the two powers. At last 
Elizabeth, though she refused even the title of Protector 
of the Netherlands, agreed to furnish 5,000 footmen and 
1,000 horse, but demanded the surrender of Brill and 
Flushing into her hands as guarantees for the payment 
of her expenses. The Netherlanders were compelled 
'adly to submit to these hard terms, and at the end of 
585 the Earl of Leicester landed in Holland as leader 
of the English troops. 

Leicester was not, however, fit to oppose so skillful a 
general and politician as Alexander Farnese. He com- 



A.D. 1585. Drake in the Spanish Main. 173 

mitted a blunder immediately after his land- ^ . 

, , . Leicester in 

mg, by transgressmg the queen s commands the Nether- 
and accepting the supremacy over the **" ^' 
government of the Netherlands, under the title of 
governor-general. Elizabeth was highly indignant, and 
wrote angry letters to the States. Parma, to gain time, 
had opened negotiations with Elizabeth. It is certain 
that the queen was not indisposed to peace with Spain, 
and could she have secured it would have sacrificed the 
cause of the Netherlands. She listened to proposals for 
handing over the cautionary towns to Parma. Rumors 
of these negotiations spread among the Netherlanders 
and kindled doubts of Elizabeth's sincerity. Men were 
afraid that their experience of the Duke of Anjou would 
be repeated in Elizabeth. 

The negotiations came to nothing ; but they prevented 
England from helping the States with vigor, and gave 
Philip time to prepare for a great blow against 
England. This was made more necessary SpanSh^Marn. 
for him by the bold exploits of Sir Francis 
Drake, who at the end of 1585 set sail with a fleet of 25 
vessels for the Spanish main. There he captured, plun- 
dered, and destroyed the wealthy and important cities of 
San Domingo and Carthagena; he coasted along the 
shores of Cuba and Florida, plundering as he went, and 
in July 1 586 returned to England laden with booty. The 
Spaniards exclaimed, " Drake has played the dragon." 
Philip was alarmed for the security of the Spanish trade 
with its colonies in the New World, on which much of 
the resources of Spain depended. It was of the highest 
importance to him that these English aggressions should 
be checked. His plan was a great naval invasion from 
Spain and the Netherlands at the same time. The Eng- 
lish Catholics, he calculated, would rise on behalf of 

M 



174 Spain and the League. a. d. 1586. 

Mary. Under such a general as Parma the capture of 
London would be easy ; Elizabeth was to be put to 
death ; Parma could marry Mary, and govern England 
in the interest of Spain and Catholicism. 

While Philip was revolving this design, Leicester was 
doing nothing to cause a diversion in the Netherlands. 
Death of ^^ ^P^^® °^ ^^^ presence Parma captured 

Sir Philip Grave and Neus. Leicester laid siege to 

^ "''^* Zutphen, and Parma marched to its defence. 

In the battle that ensued, Leicester's nephew, Sir Philip 
Sydney received a wound of which he died. Great was 
the grief of Europe at his death, and men of every na- 
tion mourned for him. Though he died at the early age 
of thirty -two, his pure and noble spirit had left its mark 
upon his times. He was a brave warrior, an accom- 
plished gentleman, a famous scholar, a wise politician. 
He was a man of lofty soul and deep religious feelings. 
All who met him owned the charm of his manner and 
his ready appreciation of every kind of excellence. He 
was " the common rendezvous of worth in his time." His 
character still stands out as the type of English chivalry 
in Elizabeth's England. 

Leicester achieved nothing in the Netherlands, The 
States were dissatisfied with him, and he returned to 
England in November, 1586. Elizabeth needed all her 
counsellors around her. Philip II. had secured France 
by the complications of her internal affairs, and was now 
threatening England in earnest. The Netherlands 
seemed to be giving way to the Prince of Parma, Eng- 
land was fearful of Catholic plots, and the adherents of 
Mary were raising their heads in expectation of tH© 
promised help of Spain. 



A. D. 1586. Babington' s Conspiracy. 175 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SPANISH ARMADA. 

To meet the threatened danger Elizabeth took the only 
steps she could. She supplied Henry of Navarre with 
money to enable him to make head against the League 
in France, and she made an alliance of " stricter amity " 
with the Scottish king, whereby both powers bound them- 
selves to maintain the cause of Protestantism and help 
one another in case of an invasion. 

But though the open conflict was drawing near, the 
secret war of plots and assassinations did not abate its 
vigor. A plot for the queen's death was 
hatched in the Seminary at Rheims. and was contpSy'!'' 
communicated to the Spanish ambassador 
in France. In England Anthony Babington was charged 
with carrying out the scheme, and he soon gathered 
round him a band of Catholic fanatics. Their object was 
to kill Elizabeth, set Mary free, and make her queen by 
Spanish help. The plot was communicated to Mary and 
received her sanction and approval. The conspirators, 
however, had not conducted their plans with sufficient 
secrecy. The plot was known to Elizabeth's watchful 
secretary, Sir Francis Walsingham. Few things are 
more surprising in the history of this period than the 
dexterity with which both Walsingham and William 
of Orange organized a system of spies and obtained in- 
formation of their opponents' measures. Walsingham 
had his creatures in every court of Europe ; even in the 
Jesuit Colleges he had men in his pay. The perilous 
state of affairs, and the unscrupulous diplomacy of the 



176 The Spanish Armada. A. D. 1587. 

time had made a system of espionage a necessary part 
of statesmanship. When hypocrisy and deceit formed 
so great a part of pohtics, they could only be met by 
more profound and elaborate dissimulation, 

Walsingham knew of the plot at once ; but he saw in 
it a means of implicating Mary and involving her in trea- 
sonable practices. He did not immediately 
*^l^^t d apprehend the conspirators, but allowed 
them to go on till he could get clear evidence 
of Mary's complicity into his hands. In this Elizabeth 
agreed; she had the courage to expose herself to the 
dangers of this conspiracy, which might at any moment 
break upon her, in order to give Walsingham time for 
his discoveries. The conspirators communicated with 
Mary by means of a man who was in Walsingham's em- 
ploy. Letters passed between them concealed in beer 
barrels which were carried in for the use of Mary's 
household; but a copy of every letter was taken by 
Walsingham's secretary on the way. At last when proof 
enough had been obtained, Walsingham's toils closed 
round the plotters ; they were taken prisoners and con- 
fessed. 

Mary was kept in ignorance of their fate. During her 
absence from her room her papers were all seized, and 
the evidence of her restless plotting was laid 
demnedf°°' bcforc Elizabeth. Babington and his com- 
panions were executed in September, 1586. 
As to Mary, Elizabeth's ministers were determined to be 
rid of her, and free the country, before the hour of its 
extremest peril, of the danger which her presence had 
always brought. Elizabeth was hard to manage in this 
matter ; she was willing to be rid of Mary, but shrank 
from the odium which Mary's death would bring upon 
herself. At length a commission of forty privy counsel- 



A. D. 1 5 8 7 . Execution of Mary. 177 

lors and noblemen was appointed to try Mary, "com- 
monly called Queen of Scots," under the provisions of 
the act passed two years before for Elizabeth's protection. 
Mary was taken to Fotheringay Castle in Northampton- 
shire, and the trial began. At first Mary refused to an- 
swer, saying that she did not acknowledge the jurisdic- 
tion of the court over a queen ; but she at last consented 
to plead. The evidence was heard, and on October 25 
sentence was pronounced against Mary on the ground 
of privity to Babington's plot "for the hurt, death, and 
destruction of the royal person." 

Mary had been condemned ; but Elizabeth hesitated to 
.9rder the execution of a queen, a near relative to herself, 
who had sought refuge in her kingdom, and whom she 
had kept for nineteen years in confinement. 
Parliament petitioned that the sentence execited 
should be carried into effect, and that the 
"seed-plot of so many conspiracies" should be re- 
moved. Elizabeth paused before she could resolve ; 
she even made overtures to have Mary privily put 
out of the way, that she might avoid the responsibility 
of a decision. At last she signed the warrant for Mary's 
execution, but gave no orders that it should be carried 
into effect. Her secretary, .Davison, at once took action 
upon it, and Mary was beheaded in Fotheringay Castle 
on Februarys, 1587. 

It is impossible not to feel a certain amount of syni- 
pathy for Mary, round whose personal history so much 
romance has gathered. Yet her death was 

-_,,,, - ^, , , Results of 

necessary for England s safety. She had Mary's 
not spent her years of confinement as a *^^^*^' 
pining captive ; her days were passed in constant intri- 
gues and plottings ; she was not merely a passive but an 
active enemy to Elizabeth and to England. She repre 



178 The Spanish Armada. a. d. 1587. 

sented in her own person all that was opposed to Eliza- 
beth's quiet, and to the peace of Protestant England. 
Of this fact she was always conscious, and hoped for 
every turn of affairs not only for liberty but for the Eng- 
lish throne. So long as she lived, England could not 
offer a united front to foreign foes. When she died the 
citizens of London kindled bonfires and rang merry 
peals of bells. A weight was lifted from men's minds, 
and they began to breathe more freely. 

Elizabeth's conduct was most unworthy, but was ex- 
tremely characteristic. She professed that she had 
never intended the warrant to be carried into effect. She 
expressed the greatest indignation against Davison, who 
was brought to trial for contempt, was severely fined, 
and never afterwards received into the royal favor. She 
put on mourning for Mary, and sent excuses to James 
VI. of Scotland. She hoped in this childish way to reap 
the advantage of the deed which had been done, and to 
avoid the responsibility of the blame which it brought. 

Mar}'^'s death was a distinct defiance to the Catholic 
powers. Pope Sixtus V. expressed boundless indigna- 
tion ; he made Dr. Allen, the founder of the Seminary, 
a cardinal ; he offered Philip a large sum of money to 
help him in his invasion of England. On his side, 
Phihp slowly bestirred himself; he furbished up claims 
of his own to the English throne. Mary's death had in- 
creased his eagerness to attack England by giving him 
a greater interest in the result ; so long as Mary hved 
he must fight in her name ; now he might fight in 
his own. 

He was, however, restrained during the year 1587 by 
the unfavorable aspect of affairs in France. The League 
Progress of ^ad not prospered so well at first as Philip 
the League. n j^^d wished. Henry HI.'s submission to 



A. D. 1587. Position of Henry III, 179 

it had been too prompt. It was probable that the mo- 
derate Catholics might still win the day under the king's 
leadership. Their policy was to convert Henry of Na- 
varre, the heir-presumptive, to Catholicism, and so to 
unite France under one religion into a powerful king- 
dom. This was opposed entirely to the views of Philip 
and the Leaguers. They wished for the absolute tri- 
umph of Catholicism under the protection of the King of 
Spain ; they aimed at excluding Henry of Navarre and 
entirely destroying the Huguenots. Until it had been 
decided which of these parties should carry the 
day, Philip could not withdraw his attention from 
France. 

In 1587 troops were sent by the German and the Swiss 
Protestants to the aid of the Huguenots. yv^arofthe 
The campaign that followed has been called three 
the " War of the three Henrys," for Henry '^'^^^' 

III., Henry of Navarre, and Henry of Guise each led 
his ov/n army into the field. Henry of Navarre was suc- 
cessful at Coutras in defeating the army sent against him 
under the command of the Duke of Joyeuse. It was 
the first battle the Huguenots had as yet won, and filled 
them with hopes of their young leader. The French and 
German troops were cut off from joining the Huguenots 
by the army under Henry III., who, being anxious to 
settle the war peaceably, prevailed upon them to with- 
draw, and carry on no further enterprise against the 
French crown. The Germans projected an attack on 
Guise, who had his own army under his command. 
Guise was however too strong for them ; they were de- 
feated at Auneau, and driven with great slaughter out of 
the kingdom. 

Thus then the Huguenots had been successful, and 
the violent Catholics had also been successful; but the 



i8o The Spanish Ar7nada. a.d. 1588. 

moderate policy of the king seemed to be 
Position of Qj^iy half-hearted, and on his return to Paris 
he met with a cold reception from the people. 
His position was indeed a false one, as each of the two 
powerful parties in the kingdom had its determined sup- 
porters, while the king could not make up his mind to 
ally himself with either. He had the confidence of 
neither party, and in Paris an association of the citizens 
was formed for the aid of the Catholic princes. The 
people of Paris were fanatically Catholic ; they had been 
trained by the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, and 
were ready again to act with decision in support of their 
behefs. Henry of Guise was their idol, and he was a 
man well fitted to be a popular leader. He was an ac- 
complished cavalier and a brave soldier ; his appearance 
was commanding, and he had a rare combination of 
bodily and mental vigor. By his frankness and geni- 
ality he attached his soldiers to himself in the camp ; by 
his geniality, affability, and courtesy, he won the hearts 
of the people in the city. 

The king felt that he was without influence in Paris, 
and that plots were being laid against him. He threa- 
tened vengeance, and the people summoned 
Sumphant ^^ Duke of Guise to come to their protection. 
Against the king's orders Guise entered 
Paris (May 9, 1588). The king ordered his Swiss guards 
who were quartered in the suburbs to enter the city. 
The citizens, indignant at the threat, rose against them ; 
the streets were defended by barricades, and the dis- 
missal of the troops was demanded. Six thousand guards 
were useless against the fury of half a million of people. 
The guards were driven out, and the king fled from the 
city. Guise was left master of Paris (May 12, 1588), 
and the king found himself again obliged to undertake 



A. D. 1588. Exploits of Drake. 181 

the destruction of heresy, and to make Guise lieutenant- 
general of the kingdom. When Philip II. 's party had 
won this decisive victory in France, he felt that he was 
free to make his attempt upon England. 

Moreover the daring of Enghsh seamen made it neces- 
sary for him to take some decided step to vindicate the 
power of Spain at sea. In April, 1 587, Drake 
sailed from Plymouth with a fleet of twenty- Dr^iS^^ °^ 
five vessels, and entered the harbor of 
Cadiz. He defeated the ships sent against him, and de- 
stroyed some forty or fifty vessels, besides an immense 
store of provisions which Philip was preparing for his 
expedition against England. When he had done all the 
harm he could he went on to Cape St. Vincent, where 
he again did much damage to the ships and stores. He 
meant to have continued his voyage to the Azores to 
wait for the Spanish ships coming home from the Indies, 
but his fleet was dispersed by a storm. However, he 
was still able to capture one of the largest of the Spanish 
ships, the San Filipe, laden with treasures from the 
Indies. With this rich prize he returned to Plymouth 
on June 26. He certainly had done his best to " singe 
King Philip's beard," as he had avowed to do. The 
spoil of the San Filipe alone paid for the expenses of 
the expedition, and gave good profits to those who had 
ventured their money to equip it. 

It was intolerable to Phihp that these indignities 
should be endured. His preparations were thrown back 
for a time ; but in the end of May, 1 588, his 
fleet for the conquest of England put to sea. cibfe "^^"' 
"The most fortunate and invincible Ar- Armada. 
mada," as it was called, consisted of a fleet of 132 ships, 
manned by 8,766 sailors and 2,088 galley slaves, and 
carrying 21,855 soldiers, as well as 300 monks, priests, 



iS2 The Spa7iish Armada. a.d, 1588. 

and officers of the Inquisition, who were to begi,n their 
work of the conversion of England the moment the 
landing was effected. The plan was that Alexander of 
Parma was to join them somewhere in the Channel with 
17,000 Spanish troops from the Netherlands. There 
would thus be an army of 50,000 men for the invasion of 
England. 

Elizabeth's preparations were sadly deficient. Though 
she had seen Philip's preparations, she had been lulled 
into security by feigned negotiations of 
prep^arl- ^ Alexander of Parma. She seems to have 
*'°"^- refused, until the danger was actually upon 

her, to contemplate the possibihty of an actual encounter 
with Spain. She hoped till the last moment that she 
might make peace for herself by abandoning the Nether- 
lands to Philip. When she discovered her delusion pre- 
parations were still slowly and sparingly made. Neither 
fleet nor army was properly raised or equipped. There 
were only thirty-four ships of the royal navy, containing 
6,279 rnen. But the sea-port towns sent out their vessels, 
and noblemen and gentlemen on every side manned all 
the ships they could and placed them at their country's 
service. With one mind and one purpose England met 
its peril. If Philip's invasion had come earlier, when Mary 
of Scotland was still alive, it might have found England 
distracted. Now that Mar}^ was dead, Phihp had no 
longer any plea by which he might appeal to the English 
people. His invasion bore no religious character ; it was 
regarded merely as an act of foreign aggression. Ca- 
tholics as well as Protestants gathered round .the queen 
and armed themselves for her defence. 

The Armada was long in reaching England. Its 
"galleons" and "galeasses" were huge unwieldy vessels, 
magnificent for a pageant, but hard to manage either. in 



A.D. 1559. The Armada in the Channel. 183 

a storm or a fight. They expressed the stately grandeur 
of the Spanish character, as well as its inability to learn 
from the teachings of experience. Three weeks were 
spent in sailing from Lisbon to Cape Finisterre. Not 
till the middle of July were they seen off the Lizard 
point. 

The Lord High Admiral, Lord Charles Howard of 
Effingham, at once put out from Plymouth harbor with 
sixty ships. Lord Charles Howard, though by no means 
the most experienced sailor at Elizabeth's command, 
was well fitted for his post. He was popular among the 
sailors, and was both bold and prudent. Moreover, " he 
had skill enough to know those who had more skill than 
himself, and to follow their instructions, so that the queen 
had a navy of oak and an admiral of osier." Under him 
served such daring and experienced seamen as Hawkins, 
Drake, and Frobisher, men whose names were already 
a terror to the Spaniards, and who had borne round the 
world the fame of English seamanship and courage. 

The English watched the huge Spanish fleet pass by, 
" very slowly, though with full sails, the winds being, as 
it were, weary with wafting them, and the 
ocean groaning under their weight." How- da in the 
ard allowed it to pass by on its way up the Channel. 
Channel to join with Parma. His tactics were to hang 
upon its rear and take advantage of its mishaps with his 
smaller and lighter vessels, which sailed twice as fast as 
the clumsy Spanish ships. The Spaniards wished to force 
an engagement, in which they trusted to their superior 
weight and numbers ; but the English could choose their 
own time to advance or retreat. From Saturday, July 20, 
to Saturday, July 27, the English followed the Spaniards 
on their way to Calais roadsteads, inflicting on them 
many losses, cutting off their stragglers, and taking ad' 



1 84 TJie Spanish Armada. a.d. 1588. 

vantage of all their mistakes. On Sunday, July 28, the 
two fleets faced one another. The Spaniards lay off 
Calais, waiting for the arrival of Alexander of Parma ; 
over against them lay the English fleet, increased now 
to about a hundred and forty sail, though the ships were 
much smaller than the heavy Spanish vessels. 

It was no longer possible for the English to put off an 
engagement. If the Spanish fleet were to advance to 
Engagement Dunkirk, drive back the ships of the Hol- 
oflf Calais. landers, which at present guarded the coast 

of the Netherlands and prevented the egress of the Duke 
of Parma, the peril of England would indeed be great. 
This must be. prevented; but the English commanders 
felt how difficult it was for their small ships to destroy 
the huge Spanish galleons. 

"Considering their hugeness," said Sir William Winter, 
whom the Lord Admiral asked for counsel, " it will not 
be possible to remove them but by a device." The 
device was soon contrived ; six of the oldest vessels in 
the fleet were converted into fire-ships, and on Sunday 
night were despatched against the Armada. A wind 
sprung up which drifted them successfully to their desti- 
nation. A panic seized the Spaniards, some of whom 
had been present at the siege of Antwerp, and shuddered 
at the thought of the explosion of Giambelli's infernal 
machine. A cry was raised, " The fire-ships of Antwerp ! 
the fire-ships of Antwerp !" The terrified sailors cut 
their cables in their eagerness to escape, and the ships 
fell into confusion. Some came into collision, some were 
burnt by the fire-ships, the rest were driven by wind and 
tide northwards along the Flemish coast. 

The English pursued, and on Monday, July 29, there 
was a hot engagement off Gravelines. The Enghsh ships 
refused to come to close quarters, but poured showers of 



A, D. 1588. Fate of the Armada. 185 

musketry on the Spanish vessels, while the p^te of the 
Spaniards on their part shot badly, and in- Armada, 
flicted little loss on the English. The Armada suffered 
severely, and as the gale increased became more and 
more helpless before it. The English had soon spent all 
their ammunition, but still gave chase, while the Spa- 
niards were driven on up the North Sea. At last Lord 
Howard, who had neither powder, shot, nor provisions, 
thought that he had "put on a brave countenance" long 
enough. As he returned on Sunday, August 4, there 
blew a tremendous gale, which scattered his fleet for a 
while, but they all arrived safely in Margate roads at last. 
The Spaniards fared more severely in the northern seas. 
Some were driven on the shores of Norway, some were 
wrecked on the coast of Scotland, some on Ireland. The 
miserable remnant of the fleet, after being driven by the 
tempest round the Hebrides, at last reached Spain early 
in October. Fifty-three ships only, out of the hundred 
and thirty-two, 10,000 men out of the 30,000, found their 
way home. 

Phihp's projected invasion had hopelessly failed, 
mainly because no steps were taken to secure the junc- 
tion between the troops of Parma and the cause of 
fleet of Medina-Sidonia. The enterprise failure, 
was skillfully devised, but it was ponderous, and admitted 
of no modification if any calculation failed. It fell in 
pieces before the bold and rapid attacks of the light 
English vessels and the fury of the elements, neither of 
which it was adapted to face. If the Armada had effected 
a landing, and had conveyed Alexander of Parma to 
England, it is impossible to say what would have been 
the result. Elzabeth's land forces had gathered at Til- 
bury, under the command of Leicester, to defend Lon- 
don ; but they were only raw recruits, ill-fitted to face 



1 86 The Spanish Armada. a.d. 1588. 

the veterans of Spain under such a general as Parma. 
Ehzabeth in the hour of need showed true Tudor spirit. 
She went herself among her troops, and when her coun- 
sellors, through fear of Catholic plots, begged her not to 
show herself in public, " Let tyrants fear," she answered ; 
*' I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I 
have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the 
loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects ; and therefore 
I am come amongst you, as you see, resolved in the 
midst and heat of battle, to live or die amongst you all. 
I know that I have the body but of a weak and feeble 
woman, but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of 
England too." The volunteers at Tilbury were stirred 
to deep enthusiasm ; but it was well that England's fleet 
saved her from the risk of trusting to Leicester's general- 
ship and the undisciplined valor of recruits. 

The Armada had failed, and its failure marked a de- 
cisive moment in the history of Europe. It told that 

the power of Spain was declining, and that 
o?the?r?sU England had again risen to be a great power 

in Europe. But this was a result not seen 
at once. Philip himself received the news of the fate of 
the Armada with his usual constancy ; he did not change 
countenance. " I sent it," he said, " against man, not 
against the billows. I thank God, by whose generous 
hand I am gifted with such power that I could easily, if 
I chose, place another fleet upon the seas." He did not 
give up his design, but only resolved to make the next 
attempt more wisely. But there is a tide in the affairs 
of men, and Philip was never destined to have leisure or 
means for another attempt. Affairs in France claimed 
his attention. A reaction against the power of Spain set 
in throughout Europe. England could wreak on Spain 
a ruinous revenge, and Phihp dragged Spain into hope- 



A.D. 1588. Assassination of Guise. 187 

less bankruptcy by his great schemes, which were always 
on the verge of succeeding but always missed that com- 
plete success which alone was worth having. 



CHAPTER III. 

REACTION AGAINST SPAIN. 

Philip's schemes were destined to similar failure in 
France. We have seen how entirely the power of the 
League had won the day at the beginning of 1588. 
Henry III. was obliged to summon the Estates at Blois, 
and to submit to many limitations upon the royal power ; 
war was to be resumed against Henry of Navarre. The 
king found himself merely a tool in the hands of the 
Duke of Guise and his party. 

This position was intolerable to him, as a similar 
position had been intolerable to his mother, Catherine, 
when the Huguenot, Coligny, was endea- 
voring to mould the policy of the French tion of 
monarchy. Henry resolved, as his mother 
had done, to free himself of his dangerous rival by as- 
sassination. On December 23d, 1588, Guise was sum- 
moned to the king's chamber, and was murdered on 
entering it by some of the king's body-guard, while the 
king awaited the accomplishment of the deed. Great 
was the fury of the people. Paris took the first step, and 
refused any longer to recognize a king who had broken 
his word to the harm of the Catholic faith. All the 
great towns of France followed the example of the capi- 
tal, and the Duke of Mayenne, brother of the murdered 



1 88 Reaction against Spain. a. d. 1589. 

Guise, placed himself at the head of the confederates. 
Open war broke out between the king and the 
League. 

Henry III. by himself would have been powerless 

against this opposition ; but Henry of Navarre with his 

small army of well-trained soldiers marched 

Assassina- , _, , 

tionof to his aid. Tolerance to the Huguenots 

^^^^ ' was again proclaimed by the king. Thq 
Catholic royalists slowly gathered round him, and the 
contest lay between the principles of monarchy and 
tolerance on the one side, and the exclusive principle of 
Cathohcism on the other. In July 1589 Henry III. 
found himself strong enough to lay siege to Paris. The 
League trusted to assistance from the Duke of Parma in 
the Netherlands ; for Philip's cause was so closely allied 
with it that the subjugation of the Netherlands was now 
secondary to the success of his scheme in France. But 
the assassination of Guise was to produce its fruits. A 
fanatical Dominican priest, Jacques Clement, was so 
moved by a papal admonition denouncing Henry III., 
that he decided it was no sin for a priest to kill a tyrant. 
On August 2, 1589, he obtained an interview with the 
king, and stabbed him. 

The question of the succession to the French throne 
was now a matter of supreme importance. The heir- 
^ . „ presumptive was the Huguenot Henry of 

Question of ^ ^ . , . , i r i 

the French Navarre ; against him was brought forward 

the candidate of the League, the Cardinal 
of Bourbon. If it was worth Philip's while to interfere 
before in French affairs to gain influence for Spain, it 
was now a matter of vital importance for him to prevent 
the accession to the French throne of a man not only 
opposed to him in religion, but also an hereditary foe to 
the Spanish house. Henceforth to the end of his reign 



A. D. 1589. Expedition against Lisbon. 189 

Philip's energies were directed to the repression of 
Henry of Navarre. 

But it was now England's turn to assume an attitude of 
aggression against Spain. The spirit of naval adventure, 
which had already grown high in England, 
received fresh vigor from the results of the naval war 

Armada fight. Hostility to Spain became Spain!*^ 

a passion in adventurous minds, and any 
plan for an attack upon the Spaniards was received with 
enthusiasm. Early in 1589 an expedition against Spain 
was sent out under the command of Sir John Norris and 
Sir Francis Drake. Don Antonio, the pretender to the 
crown of Portugal, accompanied them, for he hoped that 
his presence would stir the Portuguese to revolt against 
Philip. The fleet, consisting of some 50 vessels and 
15,000 men, landed first at Corunna, where they burned 
the ships in the harbor and then proceeded to besiege 
the city ; the lower town surrendered, but the upper 
town was too strongly fortified to be taken by storm. 
Moreover, a Spanish army of 15,000 men marched to 
the relief of the town ; the English, 7,000 strong, met 
them about five miles from Corunna, and after a short 
but sharp encounter repulsed and pursued them with 
great slaughter. 

These exploits were brilliant, but fruitless for the main 
object of the expedition, and Elizabeth was angry that 
Drake had not at once proceeded to Lisbon. 

. , , , , , , . , Expedition 

At length, however, he passed on thither, against 

being joined on his way by transports, 
with which came a noble volunteer, the young Robert 
Devereux, Earl of Essex, then at the age of twenty-two. 
Essex was now Elizabeth's chief favorite ; he had been 
commended to her by Leicester, who was afraid of the 
growing influence of Sir Walter Raleigh. After Leices- 
N 



190 



Reaction against Spain . a. d. 1 5 89 . 



ter's death, which took place immediately after the 
repulse of the Armada, Essex held the chief place in the 
queen's affections. But the ambitious youth of twenty- 
two found it hard to curb his high spirit within the 
narrow bounds required to pay court to a mistress who 
was approaching the age of sixty. He had longed to 
join this expedition, but had been prevented by the 
queen's express commands to Drake and Norris to send 
him back from Plymouth. He had, however, managed 
after all to elude the royal vigilance and go forth upon 
his quest for martial glory. 

Norris landed in the middle of May at Peniche, about 
forty miles from Lisbon. Drake sailed up the Tagus to 




join him against Lisbon, But Norris found it hopeless 
to take Lisbon. His troops were suffering from sickness, 
brought on by intemperance at Corunna ; the Portuguese 
did not rally, as had been expected, round Don Antonio, 
whose name brought only a few unarmed peasants : the 
English had no cannon to batter the town. Norris 



A.D. I590* English Naval Adventure. 191 

marched back and joined Drake at Cascaes, at the 
mouth of the Tagus, where they took the fort and seized 
sixty vessels belonging to the Hance Towns that lay in 
the harbor laden with provisions. After some more 
pillage alorig the coast the English returned home. 

The expedition had been a failure in its main object, 
and there had been great loss of life through sickness. 
Yet the English had shown how vulnerable i? i- t, 

Spain was, and had defeated a Spanish naval ad- 

army on its own ground. The name of Spain 
was no longer a terror to the English mind; it was 
rather a symbol of every thing that Protestant England 
condemned. A crusading spirit against Spain and the 
Inquisition was mingled with a desire for glory and a 
thirst for gain, and sent the English youth to seek ad- 
ventures in irregular warfare. Private adventurers, 
merchants, and gentlemen, all fitted up vessels for this 
fien e naval war, and the daring deeds of English seamen 
filled the Spaniards with surprise that soon gave way to 
alarm. The Spanish waters were no longer safe. In 1 590 
ten English merchantmen, on their way home from 
Venice, defeated twelve huge Spanish war galleys which 
had been sent against them in the Straits of Gibraltar. The 
merchant ships of England were more than a match for 
the war ship of Spain ; Spanish galleys and merchant- 
men alike were at the mercy of English privateers, which 
scoured the seas at their will. 

The noblest of these privateers was George Clifford, 
Earl of Cumberland, who strove by ventures at sea to 
repair his fortunes, which he had shattered by prodigali- 
ty. He was renowned for knightly prowess in tourna- 
ments, and once as he kneeled before the queen to re- 
ceive the prize she dropped her glove, which he thence- 
forward wore as a favor, encircled with diamonds ; but 



192 Reaction against Spain. A. d. 1590. 

in spite of this royal graciousness he refused to borrow 
the queen's ships for his expeditions, as he knew the 
thrifty Ehzabeth would reckon hardly with him for any 
losses. 

The queen indeed never failed to demand from these 
adventurers that their expeditions should be directly pro- 
fitable to the royal coffers. When in 1 590 Hawkins made 
an unsuccessful voyage, so that his prizes did not pay 
for the expenses, he made a humble apology to the queen, 
in which he said, " Paul might plant and ApoUos might 
water, but that it was God only that gave the increase." 
"This fool," testily exclaimed Elizabeth, "went out a 
soldier, and is come home a divine." 

This temper of the queen was reflected in all others 
who engaged in naval adventures. When the first fear 
of Spain had passed away, these expedi- 
Colonizing \\ox\s took too exclusively the character of 
free-booting, and lost their more definite po- 
litical significance. The desire for gain outweighed with 
the younger generation of P2nglish seamen the desire of 
crippling Spain. There was, however, one man, Sir 
Walter Raleigh, who represented throughout his life the 
principle of statesman-like opposition to Spain in its dis- 
tant colonies. This principle he always urged in Parlia- 
ment, and brought forward fresh schemes of colonization 
in opposition to Spain. He it was who first colonized 
Virginia (1584), though the settlement failed for want of 
proper management and proper support. In 1592 he 
penetrated to the isthmus of Darien ; but his plans were 
stopped by a message from the queen ordering him to 
return. Elizabeth disgraced her favorite for having 
dared to marry secretly one of her maids of honor, Ehza- 
beth Throgmorton. In 1595 he made an expedition to 
Guiana in search of El Dorado, the fabled land of gold. 



A. D. 1589. Philip II, and the League. 193 

His persistent hostility to Spain made his death a peace- 
offering which the pacific policy of James I. did not hesi- 
tate to make. 

The temper of these English seamen may be illus- 
trated by the conduct of Sir Richard Grenville, His one 
ship, the " Revenge," faced a Spanish fleet of fifty ves- 
sels, nearly all of them twice as large as his own. From 
three o'clock in the afternoon till daybreak next morning 
did Grenville hold out against them all. Time after time 
a huge Spanish ship attempted to board him and was 
driven back. At last all his powder was spent, the pikes 
all broken ; of his crew of a hundred men forty were 
killed and the rest all wounded. Grenville could fight 
no more, but he would not surrender. The Spaniards 
offered honorable terms, and Grenville was taken on 
board the Spanish admiral's ships, saying " that they 
might do with his body what they list, for he esteemed it 
not." In a few hours he died, amid the respectful cares 
of the Spanish nobles, saying, *' Here die I, Richard 
Grenville, with a joyful and a quiet mind, for that I have 
ended my life as a good soldier ought to do, who has 
fought for his country and his queen, for honor and re- 
ligion." 

This was the spirit which opposition to Spain awoke 
in England, the spirit which beat back Philip and filled 
England with a strong and vigorous national life. 

Meanwhile Phihp's interest was fixed upon affairs in 
France. The death of Henry HI. had opened out a 
wide prospect for the aggrandizement of 
Spain. The League in its fanatical attach- ^^'^^ "ue^"^ 
ment to Catholicism had almost entirely 
lost the feeling of nationality. Its members looked to 
Philip as the head of the Catholic party in Europe. 
They proclaimed the Cardinal of Bourbon king under 



194 Reaction agaitut Spain: a.d. 1590. 

the title of Charles X., but Philip was to be recognized 
as Protector of France, Here was a prospect peculiarly 
suited to Philip's policy ; France might be absorbed as a 
province in the Spanish monarchy, which would then be 
a great organization for the entire re-establishment of 
Catholicism throughout Europe. 

In opposition to the League Henry of Navarre assumed 
the title of King Henry IV. He was of course supported 
TV ^y ^^ Huguenots ; but the Catholics who 
religious posi- had adhered to Henry III. were sorely per- 
'^°"' plexed. They did not wish to give up the 

hereditary rights of the monarchy, but they could not 
consent to see the monarchy severed from Catholicism. 
Henry IV. gave them to understand that he was not ob- 
stinate in his adherence to Protestantism ; he was willing 
"to be further instructed." Henry was not a man of 
deep religious principle. He had been brought up by 
his mother as a Huguenot ; after the massacre of St. Bar- 
tholomew's day he had conformed to Catholicism, and 
had lived a gay, careless life at court. When things 
were a little more favorable he had again joined the Hu- 
guenots. So long as he was a prince of the blood he 
thought he had a right to hold his own opinions and to 
enjoy his political rights at the same time. But now that 
the rights of the monarchy had descended to him, things 
were changed. His first duty, he conceived, was to save 
the French crown, and again to unite the French nation. 
He looked upon religion with the eye of a statesman ; 
if the principle of Catholicism were held by the French 
people to be a necessary element in the monarchy, he 
must not lightly set up against their wish the traditions 
of his early education. 

On this understanding the greater part of the Catholic 
royalists still held by him. But his chances seemed 



A.D.I590- Campaign of \^()Q. 195 

almost hopeless. Henry IV. was, however, characterof 
admirably fitted to fight a difficult game. Henry IV. 
Always good-natured, amiable, and gay, he won men's 
hearts and inspired them with confidence. He was a 
brave and dashing soldier, to whom generalship seemed 
almost an instinct. Under an air of reckless good hu- 
mor and unthinking jollity he hid a cool and calculating 
brain. While seeming to live for the moment he never 
forgot the end which he had before him. He beheved 
profoundly, with an almost religious fervor, in the jus- 
tice of his cause. He was determined to succeed, and 
knew the importance of every small success in helping 
towards his end. He was, moreover, entirely free from 
pedantry, and was prepared to make any necessary 
sacrifice that could help his cause. He was soon sup- 
ported by the popular opinion of Europe ; for Philip's 
schemes awoke the profoundest alarm. The idea of the 
balance of power was beginning to prevail in European 
politics, and this idea demanded the existence of France 
as an independent power. Even Pope Sixtus V. was 
not willing to see the triumph of Catholicism purchased 
at the price of establishing the absolute power of Spain 
in Europe. ' Philip represented a party which was more 
orthodox than the head of the Church. 

Henry IV. began his campaign in 1 590 by besieging 
Dreux. The army of the League was led to its rehef by 
the Duke of Mayenne, brother of the mur- Campaign 
dered Guise. The armies met in the plain of 1590. 
of Yvry, where the royalists were victorious mainly 
through the desperate valor of Henry himself, who at 
once advanced to the siege of Paris. The city was ill 
prepared to stand a siege, and was almost reduced to 
starvation when Alexander of Parma advanced to its re- 
lief with his army from the Netherlands. He was bitter- 



io6 Reaciion against Spain. A. D. 1593. 

ly disappointed at being stopped in his plans for the sub- 
jugation of that country by PhiHp's orders to advance 
into France. For a while the Netherlands had time to 
gather together their strength, and France became the 
battle-field of opposition to Spain. Henry IV. broke off 
the siege of Paris, and trusting to his cavalry, composed 
almost entirely of French nobles, wished to force Alex- 
ander of Parma to a battle. But Parma was a more ex- 
perienced general than Henry ; he out-manoeuvred him 
and refused to fight, till the nobles of Henry's army 
grew weary of waiting and his forces dispersed. Parma 
having done his work of relieving Paris retired to the 
Netherlands. 

The death of the titular Charles X. during the siege, 
increased the influence of Spain. The Leaguers had no 
Philip's influ- ^^^ whom they could set up as a king against 
tnce in France. Henry IV. ; they could trust only to Spanish 
help. Their scheme was to confer the French kingdom 
on the Infanta Isabella, Philip's daughter by his third 
wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II. of France. Philip 
demanded that he should himself choose for her a 
husband who should at once be acknowledged as king 
of France. 

Meanwhile France Seemed likely to be again split up ; 
every province was fought for by two nobles, one on the 
Campaign of side of the League, one of Henry IV. To 
1591-2. help the League, in Brittany, Philip sent a 

body of Spanish troops. The presence of the Spaniards 
on the coast opposite to England, awoke the liveliest 
alarm in Elizabeth, and made her more ready to send 
troops to the help of Henry. At her urgent desire, 
Henry, in the winter of 1591, laid siege to Rouen; but 
when he seemed likely to take it, the experience of his 
last campaign was again repeated. Alexander of Parma 



A.D. 1592. Reaction ill favor of Henry IV. 197 

marched to its relief; Henry was obliged to raise the 
siege of Rouen, and was again out-generaled by Alex- 
ander in his attempts to cut off his retreat. The campaign 
of 1 591-2 had been made useless to Henry IV. by the 
military genius of Alexander Farnese. 

But in December, 1592, Parma died at Arras, and 
Philip had no general whom he could set against Henry 
IV. for the future. Moreover the cause of the ^ . . 

Reaction m 

League was losing ground in France. The favor of Henry 
public opinion of Europe was beginning to 
tell, and the RepubHc of Venice had recognized Henry 
IV. in spite of papal admonitions. The party of the 
League in France itself was no longer unanimous. The 
question of the marriage of the Infanta Isabella raised 
jealousies ; Philip first proposed as her husband his 
cousin, the Archduke Ernest, brother of the Emperor 
Rudolph ; but he was distasteful to the French, as he 
might one day become Emperor. Next Philip seemed to 
favor Charles of Guise, son of the murdered duke ; but 
Mayenne was in no way desirous to see his nephew 
raised to power at his own expense. Since his brother's 
death he had been regarded as the head of the League, 
and he was not prepared to resign that positiiDn to his 
nephew. Amid the difficulties which had now sprung 
up, the moderate party of Politicians was daily gathering 
strength against the fanatical Leaguers. The Parliament 
of Paris sent an admonition to the Duke of Mayenne to 
prevent the crown from passing into the hands of a 
foreigner. The distance of Spain prevented it from 
sending efficient military help to the League. Henry IV. 
drew nearer to the Catholics ; he was prepared to change 
his religion for the purpose of securing his position as 
king of France. It was not, however, to the fierce 
Catholicism of the League, that Henry IV. could possibly 



198 Reactio7i against Spain. a. D. 1594. 

go over ; it was to the moderate religious views of the 
royahst clergy, who were willing to grant toleration to 
the Huguenots, as a condition of winning over the king 
to Catholicism. On July 23, 1593, Henry was solemnly 
H IV b received into the bosom of the Church by the 
comesaCatho- Archbishop of Bourges, in the church of St. 
Denis. He at once reaped the fruit of his 
conversion ; many who could never have deserted the 
League to join a heretic now came over to his side. The 
French national spirit revived and took him for its 
champion. In March, 1594, the gates of Paris were 
opened to Henry, and before the end of the year the 
Duke of Mayenne had made terms with him. Henry 
had still many difficulties to face before he had made 
his position as king of France quite secure ; but Philip's 
project of making France a dependency of the Spanish 
crown had failed, in spite of its apparent nearness to 
success. 



BOOK VII. 

ENGLAND AFTER THE ARMADA. 



CHAPTER I. 

ENGLISH LIFE IN ELIZABETH'S REIGN. 

The repulse of the Spanish Armada, marks the, period 

/in EHzabeth's reign when the national spirit rose to its 

/highest point. England, which had long English 

/ been weighed down by doubts and fears, character. 

I awoke to a consciousness of its true position. Internal 

j conflicts and differences of opinion ceased to be of im- 

I portance in face of the great danger which threatened 

i all alike. Englishmen felt, as they had never done 

before, their community of interests, their real national 

unity. Hatred of Spain became a deep feeling in the 

English mind, and when combined with religious zeal 

and the desire for adventure produced that spirit of rest- 

i less and reckless daring which so strongly marks the 

English character at this time. Nowhere is the outcome 

■ of awakened national feeling more finely expressed than 

\ in the lines which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of 

the dying Gaunt : 

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, 
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars. 
This other Eden, demi-paradise : 
This fastness built by Nature for herself 
Against infection, and the hand of war; 

199 



200 English Life in Elizabeth's Reign. 

This happy breed of men, this httle world : 
This precious stone, set in the silver sea, 
Which serves it in the office of a wall 
Or as a moat defensive to a house, 
Against the envy of less happier lands. 

Moreover England under Elizabeth's careful rule had 
rapidly increased in wealth and prosperity. It was free 
from war when all the rest of Europe was 
increased engaged in deadly struggle. The queen 

prosperity. ^^^^ thrifty and provident, so that industry 

was not crippled by heavy taxes. The troubles in the 
Netherlands threw great commercial advantages into the 
hands of the English which they were not slow in using. 
Increasing national prosperity went together with increas- 
ing national spirit, and England made rapid strides during 
the eventful forty-five years of Elizabeth's reign. One 
way in which this showed itself was in the great advance 
of literature. Men's tongues seemed to be loosened ; they 
felt and expressed interests of every kind. No longer 
were some things only of importance, but all things that 
concerned man and his life and feehngs were felt to be 
worthy of record. Hence it is that we know so much 
more of Elizabeth's times than we do of those that went 
before, and that we have materials for a sketch of the 
social hfe and manners of the people. 

The increase of wealth produced a greater desire for 
comfort, and Ehzabeth's reign was marked by a great 
Architec- progress in all the refinements and ap- 

ture. pliances of daily life. Amongst the nobles 

the sense of peace and security, joined with the desire for 
greater grandeur, led to a change in the character of 
their residences. The fortified castle was re-modelled 
into a palace, though still retaining its old appearance. 
This was the case with Kenilworth Castle, inside whose 



Prosperity of England. 201 

frowning battlements was a magnificent palace with 
every requirement of luxury. 

New mansions were also erected all over England by 
the gentry who wished to live in a manner suitable to 
their dignity. No age has left a more decided mark on 
our domestic architecture than the age of the Tudors. 
The Gothic Architecture of the middle ages had given 
way before the revival of the classical style which 
spread from Italy. The mixture of Gothic and classical 
architecture produced the stately yet simple Elizabethan 
mansions of which such admirable examples remain in 
Hatfield, Longleat, Audley End, Holland House, and 
Knowle. Country houses generally were built of brick or 
stone instead of wood ; glass took the place of lattices. 
" Of old time," says Harrison in his Description of Eng- 
land, " our countrie houses instead of glass did use much 
lattise, and that made either of wicker or fine rifts of oka 
in checkerwise. But now our lattises are also growne 
into lesse use, because glass is come to be so plentifulle, 
and within a verie little so good cheape if not better than 
the other. The wals of our houses on the inner side be 
either hanged with tapistrie, arras worke, or painted 
cloths, wherein either diverse histories, or herbes, beasts, 
and such like are stained, or else they are seeled with 
oke of our own or wainscot brought hither out of the 
east countries. As for stooves we had not hitherto used 
them greatlie, yet do they now begin to be made in 
diverse houses of the gentrie." When the Spaniards in 
Queen Mary's days saw the English houses, they said, 
" These English have houses made of sticks and dirt, but 
they fare commonly as well as the king." This reproach 
was no longer true in Elizabeth's time. 

The luxury of comfort also made rapid progress. 
** There are old men," says Harrison, " yet dwelling in 



202 English Life in Elizabeth! s Reign. 

the village where I remaine, which have 
Increase of noticed three things to be marvellouslie al- 

comfort. *=* 

tered in England in this their remembrance. 
One is the multitude of chimnies latelie erected, where- 
as in their young daies there were not above two or three 
if so manie, in uplandish towns of the realme. Another 
is the great amendment of lodging, for our fathers have 
lien full oft upon straw pallets, and a good round log 
under their heads instead of a bolster or pillow. The 
third thing they tell of, is the exchange of vessels as of 
treene (wooden) platters into pewter, and wooden spoones 
into silver or tin. Such also was their povertie, that if 
some one od farmer or husbandman had been at the 
alehouse among six or seven of his neighbours, and 
there in braverie to show what store he had, did cast 
down his purse, and therein six shillings of silver, it was 
very likelie that all the rest could not laie down so much 
against it ; whereas in my time the farmer will thinkie 
his gaines verie small towards the, end of his terme, if 
he have not six or seven years rent lieing by him, beside 
a fair garnish of pewter on his cupboard, with so much 
more in od vessels going about the house, three or foure 
feather beds, so manie coverlids and carpets of tapestrie, 
a silver salt, a bowle for wine, and a dozzen spoons to 
furnish up the sute." 

The rich furniture and decorations of the rooms in 

. noblemen's houses is described by Shake- 

Furniture. . ^ , , 

speare m Cymbehne : 

Her bedchamber was hanged 
With tapestry of silk and silver ! the story- 
Proud Cleopatra, when she met her Roman, 
And Cydnus swelled above the banks, or for 
The press of boats, or pride ; a piece of work 
So bravely done, so rich that it did strive 



' Meals, 203 

In workmanship and value. The chimney 
Is south the chamber ; and the chimney-piece 
Chaste Dian bathing. The roof of the chamber 
With golden cherubims is fretted ; her andirons 
(I had forgot them) were two winking Cupids 
Of silver, each on one foot standing, nicely 
Depending on their brands. 

Carpets were not yet much known or used, and the floors 
were strewed with rushes ; thus Romeo says : 
Let wantons light of heart 
Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels. 
In food, and in the exercise of hospitality, the English 
were profuse. The usual fare of a gentleman, says 
Harrison, " was four, five, or six dishes when .. , 

' ' ' Meals. 

they have but small resort." There were 
many kinds of meat, and "for a man to taste of every 
dish that standeth before him is rather to yield unto a 
conspiracy with a great deal of meat for the speedy sup- 
pression of natural health, than the natural use of a 
necessary means to satisfy himself with a competent re- 
past to sustain his body withal." The great men dined 
in state at a high table in their hall, while their depen- 
dants sat at lower tables ; the remnants of their dinner 
were given to the poor. Venetian glass, which was a 
rarity, was the favorite substance of their drinking ves- 
sels. Fifty-six sorts of French wines were imported in- 
to England, and thirty kinds of Italian, Greek, Spanish, 
and Canary wines. Drunkenness was then, as always, 
a characteristic feature of the English people. China 
dishes and plates were beginning to be known. Knives 
for eating purposes only began commonly to take the 
place of fingers in 1 563, and forks were not used before 
161 1. The times for meals were strangely different from 
our present custom ; the gentry dined at eleven and 



204 English Life in Elizabeth s Reign. 

supped at five, the farmers dined at one and supped at 
seven. 

Dress was remarkable in this age for its splendor and 
magnificence; the vanity of the queen set an example 
of profusion which was almost universally followed, 
and which excited the anger of many Pu- 
Dress. r\\.2,Yi satirists. Even then the English had no 

distinctive dress of their own, but followed foreign 
fashions without much taste. Every kind of dress was 
in vogue, and on great occasions there was a strange 
mixture of costumes. French, German, and Spanish 
dresses varied with " Moorish gowns and barbarian 
sleeves." Different patterns were adopted for dressing 
the hair and trimming the beard. Some men wore ear- 
rings, " whereby they imagine the workmanship of God 
to be not a little amended." Ruffs made of lawn or 
cambric were worn by both sexes ; they were stiffened 
with starch and wire, and were edged with gems. Queen 
Elizabeth left at her death a wardrobe of three thousand 
gowns, made of the richest materials ; they were of enor- 
mous bulk, and were stuffed and padded so as to stand 
off from the body. Gentlemen's breeches and doublets 
were similarly padded to an uncomfortable size ; over 
these they wore cloaks " of silk, velvet, damask, or other 
precious stuff," embroidered with gold or silver and but- 
toned at the shoulder. It was not uncommon for a cour- 
tier to " put on a thousand oaks and an hundred oxen 
into a suit of apparel, to wear a whole manor on his back." 

The title of " merrie England " was not a meaningless 

one in Elizabeth's time. Nothing can give a stronger 

testimony to the strength of the wave of Pu- 

Festival-. in . . \. , . , -r- i i • 

the country. Titan feelmg which swept over England in 

the next century than to see hov/ entirely it 

destroyed the many games and festivities which before 



Festivals in the Country. 205 

were common throughout the land, and so stamped upon 
English life the somewhat hard and joyless aspect which 
it still wears. In the country the festivities of Christmas, 
New Year's Day, Twelfth Night, Plough Monday, Can- 
dlemas, Shrove Tuesday, Easter, May Day, and many 
others, were all celebrated with curious pageants and old 
traditional customs of merry-making. Each district had 
some historic festival which it commemorated by some 
rude pageant. The Morris dancers, Maid Marian and 
Little John, the show of the Hobbyhorse and the Dra- 
gon, and other performances of that kind, awoke the 
anger of the Puritans, who saw in them remnants of 
paganism and superstition. Sundays were the holidays 
of the week, when every village had its games and social 
recreations. Wakes, fairs, and weddings were all occa- 
sions of sports and jollity. 

Dancing, archery, and bear-baiting were favorite 
amusements in the capital. There the fashionable pro- 
menade was the middle aisle of St. Paul's ^ , . , , 

Fashionable 

cathedral, where the young man of fashion life in 
would order his tailor to meet him with pat- 
terns ; for the dark little shops were ill-suited for the dis- 
play of goods. There by his remarks in public the dandy 
could get credit for his taste from passers by before he 
appeared in his new suit at all. Before dinner he walked 
in one dress, after dinner he returned in another. If he 
wished to attract especial attention he mounted the steps 
of the quire while service was going on. That was for- 
bidden, and one of the quire boys at once left his place 
to exact a fine ; then could the dandy amaze the congre- 
gation by the splendor of his " perfumed embroidered 
purse," from which in a lordly way he would " quoit into 
the boy's hands that it was heard above the first lesson, 
although it were read in a voice as big as one of the great 
O 



2o6 English Life in ElizabetJis Reign, 

organs." After this edifying display he would look into 
the bookseller's if he were of a literary turn of mind ; if 
not, he would visit the tobacconist's ; for tobacco, which 
was first brought to England by Sir Walter Raleigh in 
1 586, had already become popular. 

As an amusement for the evening was the theatre, 

which first sprang into popularity during Elizabeth's 

reign. The stirring, bustling time awoke an 

The theatre. . • 1 t n r i • • 1 

mterest m the display of the activity and 
power of human life. The spirit of adventure felt a de- 
sire for satisfaction in the contemplation of the struggles 
of men against destiny, of the soul against its surround- 
ings. The bands of players kept by the queen and 
noblemen for the performance of masques and pageants 
at their own festivities began to give public perform- 
ances. The people needed something to supply the old 
Miracle Plays which the Reformation had stopped. 
Public theatres quickly increased in number. At first 
they were rude enough, and were in shape reproductions 
of the court-yard of an inn, which first had been the 
place for dramatic representations. The " groundlings " 
of the pit stood unprotected from the weather ; the boxes 
and the stage only were covered. The stage was di- 
vided into two parts by a balcony, and thus a simple 
kind of scenery was secured. At first plays were only 
allowed on Sunday evening, but soon the players " made 
four or five Sundays every week." A penny or two- 
pence admitted to the pit and gallery ; a shilling to the 
more privileged parts of the house. There were no women 
actors, and female parts were always performed by boys ; 
but the spectators needed few external helps to give the 
words a meaning, and rouse their interest in the problem 
of human life and passion which the drama brought be- 
fore them. 



The Poor-Laws. 207 

As regards the ordinary occupations of the English, 
commerce and naval enterprise greatly increased the 
number of those who could find industrial employment. 
As a consequence of this the distress amongst ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ 
the poor population in the country slow- 
ly diminished. The " sturdy beggars," who, during 
the last three reigns had infested the country almost like 
banditti, were more easily put down in quieter times. 
The first step towards dealing with them fairly was to 
make provision for those who were really sick and desti- 
tute. A weekly collection was made in all parish 
churches for the benefit of the poor of the parish. When 
this was insufficient the justices were empowered to 
make an assessment for the purpose. Work-houses and 
hospitals began gradually to be built Finally the system 
of parish relief for the poor was established on the pre- 
sent basis by a statute passed in 1601, which enacted 
that houses of correction be erected in every county, 
and provided for the maintenance of the poor by means 
of a rate, which was to be collected and distributed by 
overseers of the poor. In this way poverty was provided 
for, and the number of vagrants began slowly to decrease. 
But severity was still used against them, and not less 
than 300 of these disturbers of the peace were hanged 
yearly. It is computed that there were no fewer than 
10,000 of these vagabonds in England, engaged sometimes 
in begging, with many devices to excite compassion, 
sometimes thieving, sometimes infesting the roads in 
bands, and using violence to the passers by. The num- 
ber diminished but slowly, as it was not easy for them 
to get employment. There was no great increase in the 
demand for agricultural laborers, and in the towns trade 
was rigidly regarded by the guilds. No man could 
practice a craft who was not a member of a guild, and 



2o8 The Elizabethan Literature. 

had not served a regular apprenticeship. The appren- 
tices were a powerful body in London ; they were always 
ready to interfere in a disturbance, and the cry of 
" Clubs ! " would bring forth a small army of them, ready 
to take part in any riot that arose. 

The occupations for aspiring gentlemen are 

Occupations. ^ j r cu i 

noted by Shakespeare : — 

Men of slender reputation 
Put forth their sons to seek preferment out: 
Some to the wars to try their fortunes there: 
Some to discover islands far away ; 
Some to the studious universities. 

To these we must add the difficult and perilous road to 
fortune by seeking court favor. Those whose position 
did not give them this opportunity, or who chafed under 
its restrictions, could find employment in the Nether- 
lands, in France, or in naval expeditions against Spain. 
Others could go on voyages of discovery either in the 
Arctic regions or in the Indian seas. Those who pre- 
ferred more studious pursuits studied in Paris, in 
Germany, or in Italy. Italy especially still exercised a 
powerful influence, over which the English moralists 
bewail. "There be the enchantments of Circe," says 
Roger Ascham, "brought out of Italy to mar men's 
manners in England, much by example of ill life, but 
more by precepts of fond books." 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ELIZABETHAN LITERATURE. 

Amid the varied activity of Elizabeth's reign, English 
literature burst forth in its most vigorous form. No sub- 



Increase of Learning. 209 

ject is more profitless for speculation than 

. , - ,. Causes of 

an attempt to assign the causes for literary literary 
activity. But one thought certainly sug- activity, 
gests itself. Literature is concerned with the expression 
of individual thought, and the age which from any 
circumstances or conditions forces upon man the 
conception of his own individual power and force, 
prompts him also to express that conception in the most 
forcible language. We have seen how the age of Eliza- 
beth brc>ught upon England a consciousness of its national 
greatness, and awoke in the minds of individual English- 
men a f<eehng of their own power. Men felt the greatness 
of the world and the importance of the issues before 
them ; they felt also in those adventurous days how 
much each man could do for himself. Their ambition 
was boundless, and success awaited their own courage 
or cleverness or address. They felt their own import- 
ance and they knew their own strength. 

Moreover, with increased leisure and increased com- 
fort men had more time for cultivation. The revival of 
letters which had begun in Italy in the pre- increase of 
ceding century had been slow in taking learning. 
root in England. The troubled times had prevented the 
spread of learning, and Germany and France had 
advanced more rapidly than England. Grammar 
schools had been established by Henry VIII. and 
Edward VL, and slowly produced their fruit. But under 
Mary learning had decayed; the universities were 
almost at their lowest point, for knowledge was sacri- 
ficed to disputation, and the fear of persecution cramped 
the freedom of thought. Under Elizabeth the universities 
at once began to revive ; the queen was most anxious 
for their progress, and encouraged them by her presence. 

The influence of Italian literature soon made itself 



2IO The Elizabethan Literature. 

felt in England. Already, under Henry VIII., had 
Influence of Sprung up two " courtly makers " as Putten- 
^^^^y- ham called them, the Earl of Surrey and 

Sir Thomas Wyat, "who having traveled into Italy, and 
there tasted the sweet and stately measures of the 
Italian poesie, greatly polished our rude and homely 
manner." They introduced the sonnet, so well adapted 
to the expression of amorous conceits, which has since 
then always held a chief place among our forms of 
poetical composition. Surrey also introduced blank 
verse in his translation of the second book of* Virgil's 
-(Eneid. Translations rapidly increased in number. 
Harrington translated Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso," 
Fairfax, Tasso's " Jerusalem Delivered," and Chapman, 
Homer's " Iliad." 

There was a greater desire for knowledge about Eng- 
land's past history. Archbishop Parker set an example 
Historical of diligence in rescuing from destruction the 

inquiry. records and documents which had been 

dispersed by the dissolution of the monasteries. Holin- 
shed, aided by Harrison and others, compiled his " Chro- 
nicles," which show at all events a larger interest than 
had yet been felt. Stow was a diligent antiquary 
who traveled on foot through England to examine 
manuscripts, and whose " Survey of London " is still 
the source of our knowledge of the early history of that 
city. With true antiquarian zeal Stow " wasted his sub- 
stance, neglected his business, and spent all his money " 
in his favorite pursuit. At the accession of James I. we 
find him reduced to want in his old age, and receiving 
from the king a permission to ask alms from the 
churches. Hakluyt was so impressed with the geogra- 
phical value of the voyages then being made by the 
EngHsh that he collected and published the narratives 



English Prose Writers. 211 



of travelers. As Elizabeth's reign went on, inquiry in- 
creased and took a broader form. William Camden, 
head master of Westminster School, published his " Bri- 
tannia," an antiquarian geography of Britain ; after 
Elizabeth's death he wrote a history of her reign which 
shows a great advance upon previous contemporary an- 
nalists in breadth of view and political insight. Daniel's 
" History of England," KnoUes' " History of the Turks," 
and Sir Walter Raleigh's " History of the World " show 
an enlarged conception of historical writing, which was 
altogether new in England, and from which the rise of 
critical history can really be traced. 

The influence of Italian models was not entirely bene- 
ficial. All conscious efforts at imitation lead to affectation 
and pedantry ; too great attention to style ^^ j. , 
makes words be valued at the expense of prose 
thought. Obscurity took the place of clear- 
ness, and the desire to clothe a thought in a recondite 
image or far-fetched allusion was stronger than the wish 
to express the thought itself. Some of the simpler 
writers in the early part of Elizabeth's reign complain 
bitterly of these foreign affectations. Roger Ascham, 
the tutor of Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey, in vain lays 
down the rule — " He that will write well in any tongue 
must speak as the common people do, and think as wise 
men do ; so should every man understand him, and the 
judgment of wise men allow him. Many English 
writers have not done so, but using strange words, as 
Latin, French, and Italian, do make all things dark." 
Ascham, himself a man of strong common sense, was 
Elizabeth's Latin secretary. He is known as the author of 
the "School-master," the firsttreatise on classical educa- 
tion in the English language, and of " Toxophilus," an ele- 
gant little dialogue on archery. Again, Thomas Wilson 



212 The Elizabethan Literature. 

tried by his criticisms of style to stop the obscurity of ex- 
pression which came from following foreign models ex- 
travagantly. " Some seek so far outlandish English, 
that they forget altogether their mother's language. 
Some far-journeyed gentlemen, at their return home, 
like as they love to go in foreign apparel, so will they 
powder their talk in over-sea language. The mystical 
wise men and poetical clerks will speak nothing but 
quaint proverbs and blind allegories : delighting much 
in their own darkness, especially when none can tell 
what they do say." 

This affected style reached its highest point in Lyly's 
" Romance of Euphues," pubhshed in 1561. The story 
is but slight, and is concerned with a young Athenian 
gentleman, who lives first at Naples and then in Eng- 
Lyly and land ; it is used merely as a thread to bind 

Euphuism. together a number of remarks and reflec- 
tions on love, education, friendship, and other points. 
The style is antithetical and inflated ; but there is much 
fineness of thought running through the book. It was 
written for ladies : " Euphues had rather lie shut in a 
lady's casket than open in a scholar's study." In this 
aspiration Lyly succeeded ; the ladies of the court all 
became his scholars. A new style of speaking, called 
after its founder Euphuism, became fashionable and long 
prevailed among the courtiers. Shakespeare satirized 
Euphuism in his earliest play, " Love's Labor's Lost,'* 
in the character of the superfine Don Armado, while in 
Holofernes he shows us the other tendency, towards pe- 
dantry, which was engaged in spoiling the English 
tongue. Euphuism owed its great success to the patron- 
age of the queen. It suited Elizabeth's character to ex- 
press herself in quaint conceits, which by their length 
seemed to be a careful statement, v/hile through their 



Sir Philip Sidney. 213 

obscurity they were without meaning. To be decorous 
and impressive without committing herself decidedly to 
any definite action, was exactly what Elizabeth delighted 
in. 

Sir Philip Sidney marked the return to a soberer and 
more straightforward style. Sidney's earliest literary 
effort was a masque, " The Queen of the gir Philip 
May," in which the pedantic and affected Sidney. 
talk was caricatured and ridiculed. His romance of 
"Arcadia" was no doubt suggested by Lyly's " Eu- 
phues," but showed a great advance in manner of com- 
position. The story was more continuous, and the teach- 
ing was not so much conveyed by direct moralizing as 
by the incidents and situation of the story itself The 
setting, however, is a perplexing mixture of chivalrous 
and classical surroundings ; and though Sidney ridiculed 
pedantry he could not avoid many extravagances and 
much that is far-fetched both in style and manner. Per- 
haps the only pure work of Elizabeth's time which has 
escaped the prevailing affectation is Sidney's " Defence 
of Poesie,'.' a noble and graceful treatise on the power 
of imagination, and a vindication, as against the Puritan 
tendencies of the time, of its lawful uses. " Nature never 
set forth the earth in so rich tapestry as divers poets have 
done, neither with so pleasant rivers, fruitful trees, sweet- 
smelling flowers, nor whatsoever else may make the too 
much loved earth more lovely. Her world is brazen ; 
the poets only deliver a golden." *' I never heard the 
old song of Percy and Douglas, that I found not my 
heart moved more than with a trumpet." In passages 
such as this we feel the fulness of joy in life and beauty, 
the depth and quickness of feeling, the nobility and 
force of spirit, which enabled the men of Elizabeth's 
time to do great things both in life and literature. 



214 The Elizabethan Literature. 

English prose writing went on through a course of 
purification and amphfication throughout EHzabeth's 
Puttenham reign. Puttenham's " Art of Poesie," which 
aod Bacon. appeared in 1589, was an attempt at serious 
criticism. Its author tries to mediate between pedantry 
and barbarism, to show how the English language may- 
be enriched without being encumbered. But the prac- 
tical example how this could be achieved was given by 
Francis Bacon, whose Essays, first published in 1597, 
show a mixture of fancy and clearness which was new in 
English literature. These " brief notes, set down signi- 
ficantly rather than curiously," as their author says of 
them, show the effect which the political life of Eliza- 
beth's time had exercised in maturing reflection and 
calling into life political wisdom. They are full of preg- 
nant remarks on government ; they show a keen analy- 
sis of the laws of the forces at work in human society, 
and of the motives by which men are influenced in their 
common actions. They are incisive, clear and con- 
densed. Bacon had freed himself from all affected forms 
of expression. His imagination is fervent yet restrained ; 
his imagery is abundant yet carefully selected with a 
view to clearness ; he is grave, serious and thoughtful ; 
his language is chosen to give force and clearness to his 
thought. His style is not yet quite easy or flowing, but 
it is concise and dignified. Bacon's Essays will always 
rank as one of the standard models of English style. 
But Bacon has a still greater place in English litera- 
ture ; he first clearly set forth the claims of 
phSopher. inductive philosophy as against the old 
methods of metaphysical speculation. He 
asserted that knowledge was to be found by careful in- 
vestigation of Nature, not by spinning cobwebs of the 
brain. He turned men from disputations of words to an 



Love Poetry. 215 

observation of the world around them. Bacon's method 
was faulty, as was natural for a beginner ; but modern 
science has still to point to him as the man who first 
brought into due prominence the principles on which its 
method was to be founded. His great work, in which 
these ideas were first set forth, was not published till 
1620, but it marks the fruits which the increased know- 
ledge of the world in Elizabeth's reign had been slowly- 
bearing in a thoughtful mind. 

The great glory, however, of Elizabethan literature are 
the poets and dramatists. It was in the forms of the 
imagination that the new spirit of England 
first found its most congenial expression. p^"'^^ 

Every kind of poetical composition began 
to advance. To write verses was a necessary accom- 
plishment of every gentleman ; no love-making could 
be carried on without a plenteous flow of amorous verse. 

The lover 
- Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad 
Made to his mistress' eyebrow, 

is reproduced in all the poetry of the time. Partly the 
fashion was copied from the sonnets of Petrarch, which 
were devoted to the expression of changing phases of his 
pining love for Laura. But the fashionable forms were 
Soon filled with the language of real feeling. The men 
of Elizabeth's times neither acted nor felt sluggishly. 
Their full and ardent natures felt and spoke strongly ; 
sometimes in tones of passionate desire, sometimes with 
delightful fancies which sprang from delicate and tender 
thought. Sometimes the Elizabethan poets weave a 
sweet fancy into the rigorous forms of the sonnet ; some- 
times they transport themselves and their love from the 
dull region of common life, and in a realm of faintly 



21 6 The Elizabethan Literature. 

imaged peace and simplicity pour forth their pastoral 
songs. Sometimes again the memory of old tales of 
love stirs them to tell again with living feeling the story 
of lovers' fortunes in bygone times. 

Amongst these love-poets we may notice Sir Philip 
Sidney, who began to sing his lady's praises in studied 

and artificial forms: gradually he burst 
SnS'^ through his trammels and learned to be 

more natural : — 

I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe, 
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain, 

Oft turning others' leaves to see if thence would flow 
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burnt brain. 

But words came halting forth, wanting invention's stay. 

At last the happy revelation came to the laboring stu- 
dent, — 

Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite, 

" Fool," said my muse to me, "look in thy heart and write." 

His sonnets and his songs are full of delicate fancies, 
and express in new and varied imagery the changing 
moods of his own mind. 

If Italy taught Elizabethan writers the sonnet as the 
expression of love, no less powerful was the influence 
of the Italian epics of Ariosto and Tasso. 
penser. ^^ have seen how soon these poems were 

translated into English, where they soon produced a 
follower in Edmund Spenser, whose poem of the "Faerie 
Queen " is the great epic of Elizabethan England. Spen- 
ser was educated at Cambridge, and began life under 
the patronage of the Earl of Leicester and his nephew 
Sidney. In 1580 he went to Ireland as secretary to the 
viceroy. There he spent almost all the rest of his days. 



Edmund Spenser, 2 1 7 

living for the most part at Kilcolman, near Cork, where 
be had received a grant of three thousand acres of land. 
In 1598 his house was burned down in Tyrone's rebel- 
lion, and he was compelled to flee to England. He died 
in London in the following year. Though living in the 
seclusion of Ireland he took a deep interest in English 
affairs. His great friend was Sir Walter Raleigh, whom 
in his poem — "Colin Clout's come home again," he cele- 
brates as the "Shepherd of the ocean," while Sidney's 
untimely death is bewailed in the elegy of Astrophel. 
Spenser's poems are all animated by his own religious 
views. We see in them the force of the early Protestant 
feeling, the hatred of Romanism as being the source of 
error, the devotion to Elizabeth as the symbol of Eng- 
land's noblest aspirations. 

The " Faerie Queen " is indeed a poem most charac- 
teristic of the time in which it was written. Standing on 
the threshold of the modern time, Spenser 
took the old forms of the past and breathed Queen."^^"^ 
into them a new ideal life. Chivalry in its 
old meaning was past and gone ; but its forms of tilts and 
tournaments and champions and ladies' favors still sur- 
vived as a graceful amusement at the festivities of 
Elizabeth's court. The system was not yet forgotten, 
but all the genuine spirit of that system had faded away. 
It was Spenser's object to make these dry bones of the 
past again live with the life of the present. The spirit 
of the new age in religion and politics alike was trans- 
ferred into symbolical forms taken from the old legends 
of chivalry. In a far distant land, where the outlines 
were dim and faded into a soft dreamy haze, the ima- 
gination of the poet finely set forth in forms of knights 
and ladies the altered moral aspect of the world. Away 
from the tumult of the world, in his quiet retreat, — 



21 8 The Elizabethan Literature. 

Under the foot of Mole, that mountain hoar, 
Keeping my sheep among the cooly shade 
Of the green alders by the Mulla's shore, 

the poet peopled his ideal world with the creatures of his 
own fancy. Freed from the trammels of reality Spenser's 
imagination draws picture after picture, scene after 
scene, without effort or straining after effect. He moves 
easily in the world which he has created, a world far 
away from daily life, yet not so alien from men's 
thoughts as to be entirely unsubstantial and unreal. It 
is a world of lofty enterprise and high endeavor, of 
ceaseless labor and conflict for a great end. Virtues and 
vices encounter one another in incessant shock, and 
the soul of man is ever advancing through repeated trial 
and effort towards a higher aim. Yet over all is thrown 
an air of quietness and peace. Not the violence of ex- 
cited emotions, but the steady course of the calm yet 
determined soul is the ideal of Spenser. Hence comes 
the air of purity and gentleness which is such a dis- 
tinguishing feature of the "Faerie Queen." The poet's 
self-mastery gives the poem its dignity, refinement, and 
grace. "The Faerie Queen" is the noblest monument 
of the fine cultivation of Elizabeth's age. 

But Elizabeth's time is most famous as being the 
period in which the English drama flourished. The 
new-born desire for knowledge turned to man, man's life, 
and man's destinies as the most congenial 
field for its inquiries, and the popular taste 
for dramatic spectacles gave it an open field for its 
display. Elizabeth's reign saw almost the earliest be- 
ginnings of the drama, and saw it reach its highest point 
in the plays of Shakespeare. The earliest English 
comedy which deserves the name, " Ralph Royster- 
Doister," was written in Henry VHI.'s reign by Nicholas 



Greene, 219 

Udall, head master of Eton ; it is founded upon the 
models of Latin comedy, and deals with the adventures 
of a gull in his wooing of a rich widow. "Gammer 
Gurton's Needle," written about 1560, supposed to be by- 
John Still, is almost farcical in its character and treats of 
the disturbance caused in a small village by an old 
woman's loss of her needle and the misunderstandings 
which follow. In tragedy Thomas Sackville, Lord 
Buckhurst, led the way by his play of " Gorboduc," or 
"Ferrex and Porrex," which was acted in 1562; the 
story is taken from ancient British history, and is con- 
cerned with royal jealousy, revenge, and murder. The 
play is a series of narrations rather than a drama ; the 
action is only slightly represented on the stage, and each 
act is preceded by a dumb show to explain its purport. 
It is, however, in about 1586, when the excitement of 
England had reached its highest pitch, that Marlowe first 
began to write, and was close followed by 

^ Greene. 

Greene, Peele, Nash, and Shakespeare. 
Marlow, Greene, and Peele were all of them educated at 
the university, and after many discreditable adventures 
settled down in London, where they led a wild literary 
life. They and a few kindred spirits formed a profligate 
circle, who haunted taverns and were ready to turn their 
hands to any rude jest or unprincipled trick which might 
supply them with means to carry on their debaucheries. 
Besides being a play writer, Greene was also a writer of 
tales, mostly after Italian models ; but he has also left 
some interesting tracts which throw great light upon his 
own life. On leaving Cambridge he traveled to Italy 
and Spain, where he " saw and practiced such villany as 
is abominable to declare." On his return to England he 
" ruffled out in silks, and seemed so discontent that no 
place would please him to abide in, nor no vocation 



2 20 The Elizabethan Literature. 

cause him to stay himself in." " Young in years yet old 
in wickedness, I began to resolve that there was nothing 
bad that was profitable : whereupon I grew so rooted in 
all mischief that I had as great delight in wickedness as 
sundry have in godliness." He followed through life his 
idea that "what is profitable ceases to be bad:" he 
married and deserted his wife ; he rambled here and 
there, sometimes in a state of maudlin repentance, then 
relapsing into debauchery as soon as he could get any 
money by the numerous tales and pamphlets which he 
hurriedly composed. He died in poverty and misery at 
the early age of 32, of the results of a surfeit of Rhenish 
wine and pickled herrings. The life of Greene may serve 
as an example of that of the others. Marlowe was even 
more unhappy ; he was stabbed at the early age of 28 in 
a tavern brawl. Besides their dissolute lives, Marlowe 
and Greene were both accused of having made open 
profession of atheism. 

From such wild and stormy natures it may be supposed 
the Elizabethan drama found no calm beginnings. In 
Marlowe's Marlowe, fury, desire, and villany reach an 

plays- extravagant pitch of passion. In " Tam- 

burlaine the Great " he represents the Tartar conqueror 
inflated by ambition and success to a point that almost 
baffles expression. He rages against God and man 
alike, and believes he has passed beyond the common 
lot of humanity. The imagery throughout the play is 
colossal : — 

I would strive to swim through pools of blood, 

Or make a bridge of murdered carcasses, 

Whose arches should be framed with bones of Turks, 

Ere I would lose the title of a king. 

In the " Rich Jew of Malta" human villany is displayed 



Christopher Marlowe. 221 

on the most gigantic scale ; the Jew commits every pos- 
sible crime, even to the poisoning of his own daughter, 
with fiendish ingenuity, and exults in his success. The 
prologue of the play is spoken by Machiavelli, who is 
made to lay down the principle, 

I count religion but a childish toy, 
And hold there is no sin but ignorance. 
In his play of " Faustus" Marlowe has dealt with the 
effects of the overpowering desire for knowledge, the 
thirst for power, the craving to overstep the limits of life, 
to enjoy a few years' intoxication of success at the ex- 
pense of all the future. We are astonished that a work 
which shows so much profundity of thought should have 
been written by so young a man. The desires and in- 
terests of an Englishman of that age are set forth in 
Faustus' exclamation of delight when first he knows that 
he has power to command spirits : 

I'll have them fly to India for gold, 
Ransack the ocean for orient pearl, 
And search all corners of the new found world 
For pleasant fruits and princely dehcates. 
I'll have them read me strange philosophy ; 
And tell the secrets of all foreign kings : 
I'll have them wall all Germany with brass 
And make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg; 
I'll have them fill the public schools with silk, 
Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad ; 
I'll levy soldiers with the coin they bring 
And chase the Prince of Parma from the land, 
And reign sole king of all the Provinces ; 
Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war 
Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp bridge 
I'll make my servile spirits to invent. 
We have dwelt upon Marlowe because he is the most 
characteristic representative of the uncontrolled ambition 
p 



222 The Elizabethan Literature. 

and inordinate desires which lent force to the adven- 
turous spirit of Ehzabethan England. A new horizon 
had opened before men's eyes. They rushed forward 
with unbounded delight to take possession of their new 
realm, and in their first excitement hurried off in chase 
of what was most marvelous, most strange, and most 
monstrous among the novelties which had been revealed. 
In the region of the imagination Marlowe delights in 
elevating human nature to superhuman proportions. 
Not the orderly array of life, nor the fine motives of 
action attract him, but he rushes forward to depict the 
almost unimaginable extravagance of fury, villany, and 
desire. Yet Marlowe is a great dramatist. His imagery 
is forcible, his fancy vivid, his pictures of human passion 
real though exaggerated ; there is the stamp of genius 
on everything he wrote, and his faults are of the kind 
that would have been tempered by age. In plot and 
action, in his views of scenic effect, Marlowe was a great 
advance upon his predecessors, and when compared 
with his contemporaries appears as a true dramatic artist. 
About the time when Marlowe's earliest play appeared 
William Shakespeare first came up to London. He was 
the son of a well-to-do tradesman in Strat- 
ford-upon-Avon, whose fortunes however 
had begun to decline during his son's boyhood. At the 
early age of nineteen he married Anne Hathaway, who 
was eight years his senior. Increasing poverty and, as 
the story goes, a disturbance about poaching in Sir 
Thomas Lucy's park, drove Shakespeare to quit Stratford, 
leaving his wife and family behind, and induced him to 
try his fortunes in London. He arrived there at the age of 
twenty-two and became an actor. We cannot trace with 
any certainty his life in London, nor how he became a 
poet. His earliest work, " Venus and Adonis," the first 



Shakespeare. "- 223 

heir of his invention, was dedicated to the Earl of 
Southampton, who was always his constant patron. 
Soon he began to try his hand at writing plays, at first 
comedies which turned upon the fashions of the day. 
" Love's Labor's Lost," his earliest play, was a piece 
slight in plot, ridiculing the folly of Euphuism and 
pedantry. The " Comedy of Errors " was an adaptation 
of Latin comedy, and aimed at amusing by its broad 
complications rather than any study of character. In 
"A Midsummer Night's Dream " first of all the poet's 
fancy broke forth unrestrained ; his pictures of fairyland 
are full of graceful imagination, and gain force by the 
contrast between the airy gambols of the elves and the 
clumsy clowns who labor at their rehearsal. We do not 
know how Shakespeare learned and wrote, nor can we 
do more than guess at the order of his plays. They were 
written most of them to order. The theatre possessed 
an acting copy of some old story, legend, or history ; 
these Shakespeare wrought up ; some he entirely trans- 
formed with his own power, others perhaps he only remo- 
deled and wrote in parts. Dramatic representations 
of English history were highly popular, and Shake- 
speare's historical plays are deeply interesting as show- 
ing how the English at that time looked back upon the 
stirring events and characters of their country's past. 
Shakespeare wrote quickly to supply the demand of the 
playhouse. His fame soon grew, and Elizabeth listened 
to his plays with interest. He is said to have written 
the "Merry Wives of Windsor" to gratify the queen, 
who wished to see Falstaff in love. His plays were at 
first published ; but when his fame was secure he seems 
to have stopped their publication that he might make 
more money from their representation. After 1600 
" Hamlet " and " King Lear " were the only two which 



224 ^^^'^ Elizabethan Literature. 

were published during his hfetime. Though famous in 
London, Shakespeare seems never to have lost his affec- 
tion for his native place. His gains were not all spent in the 
delights of society. Though he supped at the Mermaid 
Tavern amongst the wits of the time, he invested his 
money in the purchase of land near Stratford. In Shake- 
speare genius was not a wild excitement as it had been 
to Marlowe ; order and self-control were characteristics 
of his greater penetration in the meaning of life. His 
insight and depth of feeling led him to care and pru- 
dence, not to mere excesses. He retired from London 
to spend his last years in ease and comfort at Stratford, 
where he died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two. 

It is impossible to explain a genius like Shakespeare by 
any features of the times in which he lived, or to point 
out the sources from which he gained his experience or 
knowledge. Analysis and criticism can only discover, 
they cannot explain, profound truths, fine points of per- 
ception, discrimination in details, which the poet's ima- 
gination saw in their entirety, and depicted as it saw. 
Treatises have been written to prove Shakespeare's spe- 
cial knowledge of various subjects, and to claim for him 
a technical training in each. It is impossible to identify 
Shakespeare with any of his characters, or to say that any 
special mood of the human mind was peculiarly his own. 
He is equally at home in the scheming villany of Rich- 
ard III. and the chivalrous bravery of Henry V., in the 
consuming jealousy of Othello and the complacent sen- 
suality of Falstaff, in the reckless wit of Mercutio and 
the absorbing revenge of Shylock. In tragedy and 
comedy alike he is supreme ; his master hand swept with 
unerring accuracy over the entire scale of human life 
and passion. As he advanced in life, we find in his plays 
greater thoughtfulness and a more serious tone. In 



Shakespeare, 225 

" The Merchant of Venice," he takes a deeper view of 
the varied course of hfe ; in a short while how great a 
change has come imperceptibly over the life and fortunes 
of so many. "As you like it" shows still further the 
poet's thoughtfulness. He grapples with the contradic- 
tions of life, — " sweet are the uses of adversity ;" while 
the cynical moralizings of Jacques and the quaint, prac- 
tical wisdom of the clown give opportunities for setting 
in sharp contrast the different solutions of life's problem. 
In "Hamlet" Shakespeare has drawn the struggle of 
man's spirit with destiny, the conflict of the soul with 
its surroundings, the terrible force of sin to perturb the 
life of the innocent. So profound is the insight which 
dictated " Hamlet " that it still remains an inexhaustible 
subject of speculation, opening out innumerable prob- 
lems of human life and character. Shakespeare's range 
of interest was endless. Amongst the last of his plays 
was the *' Tempest," in which he seems to have caught 
the curiosity awakened by travelers' tales, and to have 
pressed forward in fanciful speculation to consider the 
origin of man's nature. The monstrous form of Caliban, 
half human, half brutal, goes with a soul that has but 
the lower animalism and selfish cunning of the brute for 
its foundation. The "Tempest," like "A Midsummer 
Night's Dream" is worked out with supernatural ma- 
chinery. Again we are in the region of spirits ; but the 
spirits of Shakespeare's age differ from those of his 
youth. No longer are they in the foreground working 
spontaneously and showing now and then their interest 
in man's fortunes ; they are now kept under man's sway, 
controlled by his will, and compelled to work at his 
command. In both plays the poet's imagination over- 
powers us, and peoples the fairy region with shapes which 
become almost real to us. But the sprightly play of 



226 The Elizabethan Literature. 

youthful fancy, the unfettered gaiety of heart which 
clothed the world with the fair colors of a beautiful 
dream, have given way to the reflective wonder of age, 
which peers into questions it cannot solve. The airy 
grace of " A Midsummer Night's Dream " changes into 
the stately dignity of the " Tempest." With greater 
knowledge has come greater uncertainty ; on the con- 
scious enjoyment of power follows the sense of its bit- 
terness : — 

Like the baseless fabric of this vision 
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces. 
The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 
Yea, all which it inherits shall dissolve ; 
And like this unsubstantial pageant faded, 
Leave not a rack behind : We are such stuff 
As dreams are made of, and our little life 
Is rounded with a sleep. 
In Shakespeare the glory of the Elizabethan drama 
was at its height. His youth saw the wild extravagances 
of the genius of Marlowe ; in his later years 
Later drama- j^g gg-w a ncw racc of dramatists arise, Web- 
ster, Ford, Massinger, Chapman, Middle- 
ton, Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher. They were all 
men of force and power, though none had the range or 
the profundity of Shakespeare. Jonson is the most fa- 
mous of them, and is remarkable for taking the subjects 
of his comedies from the domestic life of his own time. 
He was a scholar proud of his learning, and wished to 
introduce a severer style of composition than the untram- 
meled freedom of Shakespeare. The drama continued 
to thrive in England until the severer morality of the 
Puritans revolted against the license into which it began 
to fall under the writers of James I.'s time, and the thea- 
tre declined before the feverish excitement which pre- 
ceded the times of the Great Rebellion. 



A.D. 1595' Desire for Peace. 227 

CHAPTER III. 

LAST YEARS OF ELIZABETH. 

The years that followed the repulse of the Spanish 
Armada were the culminating years of EHzabeth's reign. 
England awoke to her true position. Spain Desire for 

was everywhere driven back. France again peace, 
began to form itself into a strong and united power. Yet 
the power of Spain was still looked upon with respect. 
Henry IV. and Elizabeth would both of them gladly have 
made peace with Philip IL, and would have given the 
Netherlands over to him could they have been certain 
of his intentions towards themselves. But Philip still sup- 
ported the League in France and threatened another 
invasion of England. Henry IV. and Elizabeth still 
held by the Netherlands, though they were always sus- 
picious of one another's intentions. 

The struggle of Philip and the League against Henry 
IV. became every day more hopeless. Henry's position 
in France became so far secure after his 

, . -r-. Religious 

conversion, that m December, 1595, Pope settlement 
Clement VIII. solemnly gave him absolu- 
tion. The religious struggle in France was now over. 
Protestantism had been vanquished, not by the victory 
of the extreme party, but by the formation of a moderate 
party which lay between the two extremes. France re- 
turned to submission to the papacy ; but it was a volun- 
tary submission, and the attitude of the French Church 
was one of independence. The Pope was glad to see 
the re-establishment of the old equilibrium between the 
two Catholic powers of France and Spam. So long as 



228 Last Yea?'5 of Elizabeth. a.d. 1590. 

Spain only had been thoroughly Catholic, the papacy 
had had to follow Spain entirely ; now it could again 
assume an independent position between the two powers. 
After the absolution of Henry IV. it was impossible for 
Philip long to continue the war against him. Philip him- 
self, in spite of his great dominions, w.is 

Expedition ^ ° ' 

against Cadiz, hopelcssly bankrupt. The loss of the re- 
^^^ ■ sources of the Netherlands, the expenses of 

his many wars, and the ruinous financial system which 
he had inherited, and by which the yearly revenue was 
pledged for the payment of interest on the royal debt — 
all these causes combined to exhaust the king's coffers, 
though he squandered nothing on his own magnificence 
or pleasures. In the beginning of 1596 Philip won an 
important triumph by the capture of Calais. But this 
awoke the alarm of England and of the Hollanders as 
much as of the French. A joint expedition was equipped 
against Spain in which the English took the lead. Lord 
Admiral Howard sailed with a fleet of a hundred and 
fifty vessels against Cadiz, and the Earl of Essex com- 
manded the land forces. On June 21 the Spanish ships 
which assembled for the defence of the town were en- 
tirely defeated. Essex was the first to leap on shore, 
and the English troops easily took the city. The clem- 
ency of the English soldiers contrasted favorably with 
the terrible barbarities of the Spaniards in the Nether- 
lands. "The mercy and the clemency that had been 
showed here," wrote Lord Howard, "will be spoken of 
throughout the world." No man or woman was need- 
lessly injured; but Cadi2 was sacked, and the shipping 
in its harbor destroyed. Essex wished to follow up this 
exploit by a further attack upon Spain ; but Howard, 
who had accomplished the task for which he had been 
sent, insisted on returning home. 



A.D. 1596. Earl of Essex. 229 

This was the last great naval expedition against Spain. 
There was in England also a strong desire for peace. 
The queen and Burleigh were both grow- Parties at Eli- 
ing old ; they felt that they had accom- ^abeth's court, 
plished their purpose ; they had steered England through 
the difficulties which beset her ; they would gladly have 
reaped the advantages of the position which they had 
now secured. But there was a strong party among the 
younger nobles who were animated by the old spirit of 
hatred against Spain. They were eager for an opportu- 
nity of gaining military distinction ; they longed to 
destroy Spain utterly, and win for England without dis- 
pute the mastery of the seas. The struggles of these 
two parties cast a shadow over the declining years of 
Elizabeth, and the queen's personal weaknesses were 
mingled in a melancholy and almost tragic way in the 
political intrigues which disturbed the end of her reign. 

The leader of the war party was Robert Devereux, 
Earl of Essex. He was Leicester's step-son, and had 
been introduced to court by him. After ^ , _ 

, ^ , Robert Dever- 

Leicester s death he became the queen s eux, Karl of 
chief favorite, and succeeded to Leicester's 
influence. Young, handsome, chivalrous, outspoken, 
and ambitious, he awoke all Elizabeth's tenderness, and 
although he was more than thirty years her junior, she 
bestowed upon him the affection of a mistress rather 
than of a mother. He gathered round him all the am- 
bitious and ardent spirits of the time, and so long as his 
influence was supreme with the queen, a policy of peace 
was impossible. When he set out for Cadiz his power 
was at its height. During his absence Burleigh prevailed 
with the queen to have his son, Robert Cecil, appointed 
secretary of state. The peace party had thus gained a 
great victory, and used their power to disparage the ex- 



23Q Last Years of Elizabeth. a.d. 1598. 

ploits of Essex. On his return he took up a position of 
determined antagonism to them, and symbohzed his 
views at a festival in honor of the queen's accession. 
He was met in the tilt-yard by a hermit, an officer of 
state, and a soldier ; each entreated him to follow his 
views of life ; but the answer was given "that this knight 
would never forsake his mistress* love, whose virtue 
made all his thoughts divine, whose wisdom taught him 
all true policy, whose beauty and worth made him at all 
times fit to command armies." 

In 1597, Essex prevailed upon the queen to allow a 
naval expedition, known as "The Island Voyage," to be 
The Island made, with the object of destroying the 
Voyage. Spanish ships, and of cutting off their fleet 

on its return from the West Indies. The fleet sailed for 
the Azores, where Raleigh, without waiting for Essex, 
captured the island of Fayal. Essex blazed into anger 
against Raleigh, and even threatened his life ; party 
quarrels broke out even in the fleet. The expedition 
was a failure, owing to the mistakes made by Essex, 
The Spanish fleet escaped, and the EngHsh squadron 
reached home without having done much damage. 
Philip meantime had sent out another Armada against 
England, which was dispersed by a storm off the Scilly 
Isles, and was driven back to Ferrol. 

This was, however, the last attempt at war upon a 
large scale. Henry IV. early in 1598, concluded with 
Philip's new Philip the treaty of Vervins, and turned his 
pl^"^^- attention to the consolidation of the French 

monarchy upon its old Catholic basis. By the edict of 
Nantes, toleration was given to the French Protestants ; 
but a slow process of political exclusion and social pres- 
sure was applied to win them back to Catholicism. 
Philip's hands were once more free for operations against 



A.D. 1598. Death of Philip II. 231 

England and the Netherlands. His plan was to give up 
to his daughter, Isabella, the sovereignty of the Spanish 
Netherlands, and leave to her husband, the Cardinal 
Archduke Albert, of Austria, the task of reducing the 
disobedient provinces. Meanwhile England was again 
to be attacked where it was most vulnerable, in Ireland. 
The discontented Irish had been reduced to obedience 
by a strong hand, and had been kept quiet during the 
great crisis of Elizabeth's reign. Gradually, however, 
the tribes of Ulster united under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of 
Tyrone, who received support from Philip and the Pope. 
In August, 1598, he surprised the fort of Blackwater, and 
inflicted a serious defeat upon the English forces. 

Philip could not, however, prosecute his designs. He 
was seized with a mortal illness, and died in September, 
after a most painful illness, which he en- „ , 

^ Results of 

dured with Christian fortitude. " I die like Philip 11. "s 
a good Catholic, in faith and obedience to "^^^"s^^- 
the holy Roman Church," were his last words. He was 
seventy-one years old, and had ruled the Spanish mon- 
archy for forty years. He was a sincere fanatic, who 
had identified his own interests with those of Catholi- 
cism. We have seen how wide were his plans and how 
far-reaching was his policy. His great schemes failed 
one by one, and left him hopelessly bankrupt, In 1597 
he repudiated his debts, and ruined many of the chief 
commercial houses in Europe. His enterprises were not 
national but dynastic ; they aimed solely at extending 
his own influence and the power of his house. His pos- 
sessions were taxed to the utmost to supply funds for 
these great undertakings; his people's industry was 
stopped by unwise taxes, and when his plans failed they 
were left impoverished. Castile, as being the seat of his 
government and most completely under his power, suf- 



232 Last Days of Elizabeth. a.d. 1598. 

fered most. The fall of Spain from its high position in 
Europe was gradual, but the causes of its decay were 
financial. It had to pay for the great plans of Charles 
V. and Philip II., and it received no national advantage 
to recompense it for the injurious results of their failure. 
Philip II. left to his successor a high position, an impove- 
rished exchequer, and a ruinous system of government. 
It required only a few years for the last two legacies to 
destroy the first. 

In spite of all his efforts, Philip II. had seen the loss 
The United ^° ^^ Spanish monarchy of the United Pro- 
Provinces, vinces of the Netherlands. The cession of 
the obedient provinces (known henceforth as the Spanish 
Netherlands) to the Infanta Isabella and her husband 
Albert, was made just before Philip's death. They were 
to bear joint rule over the Provinces with the title of the 
Archdukes. Under their skilful general Spinola, a worthy 
successor of Alexander of Parma, the war in the Nether- 
lands was carried on briskly till 1607. But generalship 
was soon developed in the United Provinces as well. 
Prince Maurice of Orange, son of William the Silent, dis- 
played remarkable powers as a tactician. While war 
was carried on under him and Spinola, the Netherlands 
became a school of warfare .to the rest of Europe. The 
United Provinces continued to hold their own against all 
attempts to subdue them. In 1607 a truce was made 
which practically recognized that the United Provinces 
had made good their claim for independence. Under 
Prince Maurice as Stadtholder, Holland became a Eu- 
ropean power whose commercial and colonizing activity 
soon gained for her an important position. 

Meanwhile England had still to face the serious diffi- 
culty of the Irish revolt. The peace party amongst 
Elizabeth's counsellors saw in this new peril a fit field for 



A.D. 1599. Essex in Ireland. 233 

the warlike ambition of Essex. Somewhat Revolt of 

against his will he was sent out as Lord Ireland. 

Deputy to Ireland, with an army of twenty-two thousand 
men. It was to be seen if he would justify by his deeds 
his martial talk. Essex left the court unwillingly, for his 
personal relations towards the queen were unsatisfactory. 
He had become intoxicated by power, and ^^g^^ .^^^ 

forgot at times the basis of its tenure. He ^^ queen, 

mistook his popularity for an independent source of au- 
thority, and thought that the queen could not do without 
him. At a council in which Irish affairs were being dis- 
cussed, Essex differed from the queen, and when she 
refused to follow his opinion he turned his back con- 
temptuously upon her. Enraged, Elizabeth gave him a 
box on the ear, and Essex laid his hand upon his sword, 
exclaiming that he would not have endured such an 
affront at the hands of Henry VIII. himself. For some 
time after this he stayed away from court ; but the quarrel 
was made up, and Essex sailed for Ireland in March, 
1599, accompanied by royal favor and popular applause 
and expectations. 

Essex's conduct in his command disappointed all 
men's hopes. Instead of marching against Tyrone in 
Ulster, he spent four months in putting down 
smaller rebels in Munster. Even there his L-Sand" 

success was not brilliant, and his soldiers 
suffered from sickness. When at last he went against 
Tyrone his men were dispirited ; he could not venture 
on a battle, and entered into negotiations with the rebel 
chiefs. There were rumors of a renewal of war with 
Spain, and Essex was anxious to return to England.. He 
made peace with Tyrone, contrary to his orders, but he 
still trusted to his own popularity. He hastily returned 
to England in September, and hurried at once into the 



234 Last Years of Elizabeth. a.d. i6oi. 

queen's presence. At first she received him graciously; 
but soon the voices of his enemies prevailed. Essex was 
called to account for his conduct before the council, and 
was committed to custody. He was examined before the 
Star Chamber, was deprived of his offices, and ordered 
to hve a prisoner in his own house during the queen's 
pleasure. His conduct had awakened the queen's sus- 
picions, and his enemies accused him of making a 
league with Tyrone that he might obtain aid from him 
in a projected revolt in England. He was not admitted 
into the royal presence, and when, in September, 1600, a 
monopoly of sweet wines expired, from which he drew 
his chief source of income, it was not renewed. Essex 
now saw that his enemies were bent on his 
Rising of xv^xvi, and he determined on a decided step. 

Essex. ' \ 

He threw his doors open and gathered his 
friends around him ; once more he trusted to his popu- 
larity to overawe the queen and obtain his old influence 
over her. The privy council, alarmed at his preparations, 
summoned him before them. He refused to appear, 
and when some of the councillors were sent to ask the 
cause of the assemblage at Essex House, they were kept 
as prisoners, and Essex marched with his followers into 
the City, hoping that it would rise in his behalf. But the 
people saw no cause for a revolt. Essex with difficulty 
made his way back to his house and was forced to sur- 
render (February 8, 1601). He was brought to trial and 
found guilty of high treason. 

It was a terrible trial to Elizabeth to sign the death- 
warrant of the man she had loved; but the force of 
events drove her to do so. The queen who had con- 
demned to death the Duke of Norfolk and Mary Queen 
of Scots could not pardon Essex if she would. He was 
executed on February 25, and Elizabeth, now grown old 



A.D. i6oi. Elizabeth and Paj'-liamenf. 235 

and worn with cares, never recovered from the shock 
of this tragic comphcation. 

A cloud gathered over the last years of Elizabeth. 
Her old ministers were dead, and intrigues 
which she could not command were rife popularity 
around her. A new generation of her people ^y '^^ 
had grown up whose interests lay beyond 
the shifty policy to which Elizabeth had now accustomed 
herself. England had passed through the great crisis of 
its peril in safety, and those who now enjoyed the proud 
feeling of independence felt little sympathy with the 
cautious policy by which that independence had been 
slowly won. Elizabeth had done her work and outlived 
her time. As she went to open Parliament in 1601 she 
no longer heard the accustomed acclamations from the 
populace, who resented Essex's death. The expenses 
moreover of the Irish war began to weigh heavily upon 
her. Up to this time she had managed by strict economy 
to keep herself tolerably independent of parliamentary 
grant, and hence her tone to Parliament 
had been one of superiority and repression. Elizabeth and 
In 1601 large supplies were granted by Par- 
liament for the Irish war ; but an attack was made upon 
the right which the crown exercised of granting mono- 
polies (or the exclusive right of trading in some article) 
to courtiers as a convenient way of providing for them 
without expense. So bitter and so unanimous was the 
House in its complaints that it was impossible for the 
queen to stand against it. Seeing that she must give 
way, Elizabeth did so with good grace; she sent a 
message to the House that she would revoke all illegal 
grants of monopolies. Her message was received with 
joy; one member even called it "a gospel of glad 
tidings." A deputation went to thank her, and Eliza--. 



236 Last Years of Elizabeth. a.d. 1603. 

beth, in a dignified speech, thanked them for having 
pointed out to her a mistake into which she had fallen 
through error of judgment. 

The new spirit of the people was finding its expression 
in a desire for greater political freedom. The arbitrary 
systemoftheTudors, which made everything 
future trou- Centre round the sovereign, was no longer 
in accordance with the new state of things 
which their strong government had done much to pro- 
mote. Parliament began to act with greater freedom 
and independence, and it required all Elizabeth's tact 
and prestige to maintain her old position. There were 
signs that her successor would have to modify her sys- 
tem of government, which was rendered tolerable to the 
people only by its success. 

A gleam of success was thrown over the last years of 
Elizabeth by the victory of Lord Mountjoy (formerly 
Sir Charles Blount) in Ireland. The joint 
Ireknd ^" forces of the Spaniards and Irish were de- 
feated ; but though Tyrone was reduced to 
extremities Mountjoy recommended that an agreement 
be made with him. His final submission was made four 
days before the queen's death. 

Elizabeth's end was rapidly approaching. She became 
moody and wayward after Essex's death ; she realized 
from it her own isolation ; she became 
Er^'^b ^h gloomy and suspicious. " She walks much 

in her privy chamber," says Sir John Har- 
rington, " and stamps with her feet at ill news, and 
thrusts her rusty sword at times into the arras in great 
rage. The dangers are over, yet she always keeps a 
sword by her table." Bodily weakness and mental dis- 
tress rapidly increased, till in March 1603 she took to 
her bed. Sir Robert Carey, her kinsman, gives an ac- 



A.D. 1603. Summary. 237 

count of her condition. " She took me by the hand and 
wrung it hard, and said, " No, Robin, I am not well ; " 
and then discoursed with me of her indisposition, and 
that her heart had been sad and heavy for ten or twelve 
days ; and in her discourse she fetched not so few as 
forty or fifty great sighs." Her illness grew worse till on 
March, 23, she was speechless. It is said that by signs 
she indicated to her council the King of Scotland as her 
successor. Then she made signs for the Archbishop to 
come to her, and listened long to his prayers : twice 
when he rose from his knees to depart, she motioned to 
him to continue. Early on Thursday morning, March 
24, she died, in the seventieth year of her age, and the 
forty-sixth of her reign. 

Her character has been sufficiently shown in recount- 
ing the events in which she took part. Her wisdom and 
her prudence are to be measured by her suc- 
cess. With scanty means at her command 
she yet succeeded, in an age of vast plans and huge 
undertakings, in guiding England safely through the 
dangers which threatened it on every side. During her 
reign England grew rapidly both in inward resources 
and in outward importance. Freed from the fear of 
Spain, England began to realize her position as the 
chief maritime power of Europe ; a new spirit began to 
develop itself amongst the people ; the increased sense of 
individual power found its expression in the grandest 
outburst of English poetry. The reign of Elizabeth 
marks the time when England began definitely to as- 
sume those features which most distinguish her from 
other nations at the present day. 
Q 



k 



INDEX. 



ACC 

ACCORD, the, 97 
Adventure, naval, in England, 

189, 191 
Albert, Cardinal Archduke of Austria, 

231 
Alengon, Francis, Duke of, see Anjou 
Alkmaar, siege of, 124 
Allen, Dr. made Cardinal, 178 
Alva, Duke of, in Italy, 41 ; character 

of, 99 ; plans in the Netherlands, 100 ; 

his success, loi; influence of on France, 

102 ; seizure of ships of, 106 ; taxation 

of the Netherlands by, 115 ; leaves 

Netherlands, 124 
Amboise, conspiracy of, 62 ; edict of, 72 
Anjou, Henry Duke of (Henry III.) 119, 

125 

— Francis, Duke of, 56; made sove- 
reign of Netherlands, 155 ; woos Eliza- 
beth, 156; attempt on Antwerp, 158 

Antonio, Don, 154, 189 

Antwerp, 92; iconoclasm at, 97; the 
" Spanish fury " in, 144; attacked by 
Duke of Anjou, 152; siege of, 170 

"Apology" of Orange, 100, 155 

Archangel, 136 

Architecture in England, 200 

Armada, The, 181-6 

Articles erf Religion, 25 

Ascham, Roger, 211 

Augsburg, Diet of, 13 

Austria, Don John of, j/^ John 

— Albert of, see John Albert 
Azores, 230 



BABINGTON'S plot, 175, xjC 
Bacon, Francis, 214 
— Sir Nicolas, 139 
Beaton, Cardinal, 58, 59 



CAU 

" Beggars," the, 96 

— '"Sturdy," 207 

Berlaymont, 96 

Berwick, treaty of, 62 

Blackwater, Fort, 231 

Blois, estates at, 187 

" Blood Council," the, 100 

Bolton Castle, 106 

Borthwick Casde, 80 

Both well, rise of, 77, 78; divorce of,»9J 

marries Mary, 79 ; fall and death of, 8a 
Boulogne, siege of, 21 
Bourbon, Cardinal of, 168, 188, 193 
Brill, capture of, 117; given over to 

Elizabeth, 172 
Burgundy, 83, 91 
Burleigh, Lord, iii, 137, 229 



CADIZ, attacked by Drake, 181 ; Taj 
Howard, 228 
Calais, lost to England, 43 ; captured by 

Philip II., 220 
Calvin, 47, 55, 59 
Cambray, siege of, 157 
Cambridge, Elizabeth at, 146 
Camden, William, 211 
Campion, 163, 164 
Caraffa, see Paul IV. 
Carew, Sir Peter, 34 
Carey, Sir Robert, 237 
Carlisle, Mary at, 105 
Carlos Don, 72 
Carthagena, 173 
Cascaes, 191 

" Casket letters," the, 81, 106 
C§.teau Cambrensis, Peace of, 46, 56,. 87 
Catharine de* Medici, 64, 112, 118, 167 
Catholics, defined, 2 
Cautionary towns in Netherlands, 172 



240 



Index 



CEC 

Cecil. Robert, 229 

— William, see Burleigh, Lord 

Chancellor, Richa-d, 136 

Charles V., projects of, 8 ; attacks Pro- 
testants, 9; opposition to, 10, 11; 
position towards England, 14 ; rela- 
tions to Mary, 30 ; and Philip II., 36; 
influence of on Julius III., 37; abdi- 
cation of, 41 ; power of, 83 ; dominions 
of, 82 ; government of the Netherlands 
by, 86 ; established Inquisition in 
Netherlands, 94 

Charles IX., 64, 112, 113, 120, 125, 126 

Charles X., 193, 196 

Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, 83, 

Chatelherault, Duke of, 62 

China Dishes, 203 

Christendom, idea of, 2 

Church, condition of English, 131 

Church lands, questions about, 3 ; under 
Mary, 37, 40 ; in Scotland, I'JO 

Clement VIII., 227 

Clement, Jacques, i83 

Clergy, marriage of, 3 ; allowed in Eng- 
land, 18; Elizabeth's views about, 131 

Coinage, depreciation of, 19, 40; re- 
stored, 135 

Coligny, Admiral, 64, 114, 112, 118 

Colonization, origin of, i ; English expe- 
ditions for, 192 

Commerce, English, 135-6 

Commons, enclosure of, 20 

" Compr 'mise," the. 95 

Conde, Louis, Prince of, 63, 70, 71 

Congregation, Lords of the, 59, 60 

Corunna, 189 

Courtenay, Earl of Devon, 34-5 

Courtras, battle of, 179 

Covenant, first, 59 

Cranmer, Archbishop, 18, 27, 39 

Cumberland, Earl of, 191 



DARIEN, Raleigh at, 192 
Darnley, Lord, marries Mary, 73 ; 

Discontent of, 75 ; reconciled to Mary, 

76 ; murdered, 78 
D'Aubign6, Lord, 162 
Davison. 177 
Desmond, Earl of, 162 
Devereux, Robert, see Essex, Earl of 
Devon, Earl of. 34-5 
Diet, 7: of Augsburg, 12 
Dissenters in England, 133 
Divorces of Bothwell and Mary, 77 
Port, meeting of Estates at, 117 



FAR 

Douay, Seminary of, 163 

Drake, Sir Francis, in Spanish Main, 

173; at Cadiz, 181; attacks Corunna 

and Lisbon, 189 
Dress in England, 204 
Dreux, battle of, 71 
Dudley, John, see Northumberland, 

Duke of 
— Robert, see Leicester, Earl of 
Dunbar, 77, 80 



EBOLI, Prince of, 98 
Edinburgh, treaty of, 61, 63 

Edward VI., accession of, 17; death of, 
28 

Egmont, Count, 93, 95, 97, 100 

Elizabeth, imprisoned, 35 ; accession, 
45 ; dangers of her position, 45, 51 ; 
re-establishes Protestantism, 48; her 
suitors, 52 ; helps Lords of the Con- 
gregation, 59 ; relations to Mary of 
Scotland, 67 ; character of, 68 ; urges 
Mary's release, 104 ; perplexed by 
Mary's presence, 105 ; helps Hugue- 
nots, 102 ; seizes Spanish ships, 106 ; 
excommunicated, 109 ; plot against, 
115; her policy, 128; her economy 
129; her deceitfulness, 129; her love 
of peace, 130 ; her religious views, 13c, 
132 ; and her bishops, 134 ; her favor 
ites, 142 ; her court, 143 ; her magni- 
ficence, 144 ; her progresses, 144 ; 
wooed by Duke of Anjou, 156-7: 
association in defence of, 166 ; helps 
Netherlands, 172 ; league with Scot- 
land, 17=; ; preparations of, for the 
Armada, 181 ; at Tilbury, 185 ; her 
wardrobe, 204 : her Euphuism, 207 ; 
troubles of her last days, 236 ; and 
Parliament, 235 ; death of, 236 

Ely, Bishop of, 135 

Emperor, idea of. 7 

Ernest, Archduke, 197 

Escoveda, 152 

Essex, Robert Devereux, Earl of, at 
Lisbon, 189 ; at Cadiz, 228 ; character 
of, 229 ; expedition of to West Indies, 
230 ; in Ireland, 233 ; rising and 
death of, 234 

Euphuism, 109 

Exchange, the Royal, 

Excommunication of Elizabeth, 109 



'ABER, Peter. 159 

Farnese, Alexander, Prince of 



Index. 



241 



FAY 

Parma, character of, 153; beseiges 

Antwerp, 170-1 ; takes Neuss, 174; 

relieves Paris, 195 ; relieves Rouen, 

197; death of, 197 
Fayal, 230 
Festivals, 205 
Flushing, expels Spaniards, 117; given 

over to Elizabeth, 172 
Fotheringay, 177 
Francis I., 54 
Francis II., 56, 63 

French, the, in Scotland, 21, 24, 58-63 
Frobisher, Martin, 131 
Furniture, 202 

GARDINER, Bishop of Winchester, 
in Tower, 25 ; Chancellor, 31 

Geoiblours, battle of, 153 

Geneva, Reformation in, 54 

Gerard, Balthazar, 165 

Germany, condition of, 7 ; Reformation 
in, 7-18 ; religious settlement in, 12 

Giambelli's fire ships, 171, 184 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 137 

Ghent, pacification of, 150 

Gnislieri, Michele, see Pius V. 

Goes, siege of, 123 

Gowrie, plot of, 163 

Grammar schools, 209 

Gravelines, engagement off, 184 

Greene, 219-220 

Gregory XIIL, 121, 161 

Granvella, Cardinal, 29. 92, 94 

Grenville, Sir Richard, 193 

Gresham, Sir Thomas, 136 

Grey, Lady Jane, 28, 35 

Greyde Wilton, Lord, 162 

Grindal, Archbishop, 134 

" Gueux," see Beggars 

Guiana, Raleigh in, 192 

Guilds in the Netherlands, 92 ; in Lon- 
don. 207 

Guise, Cardinal, 56, 62 

— Charles, Duke of, 197 

— Claude, Duke of, 56 

— Francis, Duke of, 56, 70, 72 

— Henry, Duke of, 121, 125 ; character 
of, 180; triumphs in Paris, 180; as- 
sassinated, 187 

— Mary of, Regent of Scotland, 58, 60, 
62, 63 

Guises, the policy of, 70, 71 ; and the 
League, 168 



JES 

Hamilton, James of Bothwellhaugh, no 

Hatton, Sir Christopher, 143 

Havre de GrUce, surrendered to Eliza- 
beth, 71, 72 

Hawkins, Sir John, 192 

Henry VIII. of England, Reformation 
under, 15 ; death of, 17 ; policy towards 
Scotland, 19 

Henry II. of France, 11, 56 

Henry III., 126; and Netherlands, 167; 
character of, 168 ; driven from Paris, 
180 ; wars with League, 187 ; assassi- 
nated. 188 

Henry IV., see Navarre, Henry of; ac- 
cession, 194 ; religious position, 194 ; 
character of, 195 ; campaign in 1590, 
195 ; campaign in 1591-2, 196 ; recog- 
nized by Venice, 197 ; converted, 198 ; 
absolved, 227 

Henry of Navarre, 168, 179, 179. 

" Henrys, War of the Three," 179 

Hesse, Landgrave of, 9 

High Commission Court, 50, no 

Historical writing, 210 

Holinshed's Chronicle, 210 

Holland, 122 

Holies, Sir John, 140 

Home, Lord, 80 

" Homilies, Book of," 17 

Hooper, Bishop, 39 

Horn, Count, 93, 97, 98, 100 

Howard, Lord Charles, of Effingham, 



183 228 



121, 126 



H 



AARLEM, siege of, 123 
Hakluyt, 210 



Huguenots, 63, 119, 
Humphreys, Dr., 147 
Huntley, Earl of, 69 



ICONOCLASM, in Scotland, 55 ; in 
Netherlands, 97 
Inquisition, the, in Netherlands, 94, 95 ; 

in Italy, 109 

" Interim," the, 10, 11 
Ireland, Reformation in, 25 ; rising of 

Desmond in, 161-2 ; rising of Tyrone 

in. 231 ; Essex in, 233 ; Mountjoy in, 

236 
Isabella, Infanta, 196, 197, 231 
Italian influence on England, 208, 210, 

216 



TAMES V. of Scotland, 56 

J James VI. of Scotland, birth of, 77 

Jarnac, battle of, 103 

Jemmingen, battle of, loi 

Jesuits, the, 72, 159 ; in England, 163 



242 



Index. 



JOH 

John, Don, of Austria, 151 
Jonson, Ben, 226 
Joureguy, 165 
Julius III., Pope, 58 



KEMILWORTH, Elizabeth at, 145 ; 
Castle of, 200 
Ket, Robert, 21 
Kirk of Field, 78 
Knox, John, 59, 60 



LANGSIDE, battle of, 105 
Latimer, Bishop, 39 

League; the, 189, 188, 193, 196, 197, 219 

Leicester, Earl of (Robert Dudley), 52, 
58 ; proposed to Mary, 72 ; disgraced, 
III ; ctiaracter of, 141 ; in Netherlands, 
172-4; at Tilbury, 185 ; death of, 190 

Lennox, Earl of, 78 

Lepanto, battle of, iii, 150 

Lisbon, attacked by Drake, 189 

Lochleven, 81 

Lorraine, Cardinal of, 102 

Louis of Nassau, Count, 100, 113 

Loyola, Ignatius, 159 

Lyly's Euphues, 212 



MADRID, 87 
Magdeburg, siege of, 10 

Marck, William de la, 116 

Marlowe, Christopher, 220 

Mary, Queen of England, accession 
of, 29 ; coronation of, 31 ; advice of 
Charles V. to, 30 ; restores Catho- 
licism, 32 ; speech of in Guildhall, 35 ; 

. marries Philip, 36 ; home gOYei-nment 
of, 40 ; thwarted by Pope, 43 ; loses 
Calais, 4^ ; death of, 44 

Mary, Queen of Scots, married to 
Francis II., 19, 56: assumes arms of 
England, 57, 63 ; in France, 65 ; comes 
to Scotland, 65 ; plans of, 67 ; Eliza- 
beth's relations to, 67 ; c>iaracter of, 
68 ; Marriage with Darnley, 73 ; 
plans in Scotland, 73 ; connection with 
Bothwell, 77; marriage with Both- 
well, 79 ; her fall, 79 ; abdication, 80 ; 
escape from prison, 104 ; in England, 
105; projected marriage with Nor- 
folk, 107 ; with Don John, 150 ; Thr g- 
morton's plot in behalf of, 166; impli- 
cated in Babington's plot, 175; con- 
demned, 176; executed, 177; results 
of her death, 177-8 



Mary of Burgundy, 91 

Matthias, Archduke, of Austria, 152, 155 

Maurevert, 118 

Maurice of Saxony, 9-13 

Maximilian I., Emperor, 91 

Mayenne, Duke of, 187, 195, 197 

Meals, 203 

Medici, Catharine de, 71, 112 

Mendoza, Don B. de, 166 

Merchant Adventurers, Company of, 
136-7 

Merey, Poltrot de, 71 

Metz, siege ot, 12 

Mill, Walter, burned, 59 

Monasteries, dissolution of, 16 

Monceaux, 96 

Moncontour, battle of, 103 

Monopolies, 235 

Mons, siege of, 118, 122 

Montmorency, Constable, 102 

Morton, Lord, 88, 166 

Mountjoy, Lord, in Ireland, 236 

Murray, Earl of, 61, 69, 73 ; arms against 
Mary, 73 ; in England, 75 ; returns to 
Scotland, 76 ; made ) egent, 81 ; defeats 
Mary at Langside, 105 ; at York, 108 ; 
assassinated, no 



NANTES, edict of, 229 
Naples and Sicily, 36 

Nassau, William of, see Orange 

— Louis of, see Louis 

Navarre, Antony, King of, 62, 64, 71 

— Henry of, marriage of, no; helps 
Henry III., 188; question of his suc- 
cession, 188 ; becomes king, 194 ; see 
Henry IV. 

Netherlands, the, under Charles V., 86; 
helps Philip II., 87; geography of, 90; 
government of, 91 ; prosperity, 91 ; 
Margaret, regent of, 92 ; opposition 
to Philip in, 95 ; opposition to 
foreign troops, 93 ; Inquisition in, 94; 
relig'ous opposition in, 95 ; trade in, 
96 ; disturbances in, 107 ; Alva sent to, 
99; taxation of, 115; foundation of 
United, 116 ; helped by Huguenots, 
117; effects of Massacre of Bar- 
tholomew's on, 121 ; Don John of 
Austria in, 150; Parma wins over 
Walloon provinces, 153; Seven Pro- 
vinces abjure Philip, 154 ; Anjou in, 
155-158; Jesuits in, 163; apply to 
Henry III., 167; Elizabeth's help lo, 
172; Lancaster in, 172-6; cession of 
Spanish to Isabella, S31 ; independence 
of United Provinces of, 232 



! 

\ 



Index. 



243 



Norfolk, Duke of, 106 ; his plan to marry 

Mary, 107; executed, iii' 
Norris, Sir John, 189, 190 
North, rising of the, 107 
Northumberland, John Dudley, Duke 

of, defeats Ket, 21 ; Protector, 23 ; 

Reformation under, 24; plot of, 26; 

death and character of, 28 
Northumberland, Thomas Percy, Earl 

of, 108 
Norwich, Mary at, 28 ; Flemings settle 

in, 96 ; Elizabeth's visit to, 146 



OMMEGANG, 97 
Orange, Prince Maurice of, 232 
Orange, William of Nassau, Prince of, 
93, 94 ; withdraws from Netherlands, 

ST; resists Alva, 100; unites with 
uguenots, 102; made Stadtholder of 
Holland, 117 ; unites the Seven Pro- 
vinces, 153, 164; Philip's ban against, 
154 ; assassination of, 165 ; character 
of, 165 ; his spies, 165 
Orleans, siege of, 71 
Oxford, Elizabeth at, 147 



PARIS, and the Huguenots, 119; 
Guise triumphant in, 180 ; be- 
sieged by Henry IH,, 188 ; by Henry 
IV., 195 
Parker, Archbishop, 49. no, 132, 210 

— I'^^rs., 132 

Parliament, restores Catholicism, 32; 
absolved by Pole, 38; restores Pro- 
testantism, 38 ; acts of in 1571, no ; 
Elizabeth's attitude to, 235 

— of Paris, 197 

Parma, Margaret, Duchess of, in Neth- 
erlands, 92, 97, 89 

Parma, Prince of, see Famese, Alexan- 
der 

Parsons, the Jesuit, 143, 164 

Passau, Convention of, 11 

Paul IV., 40, 41, 42, 49 

Peasants, rising ofj 21 

Peniche, 190 

Pensioners, Gentlemen, 140 

Perez, Antonio, 151 

Perrenot, Anthony ; see Grenvella, Car- 
dinal 

Perth, 60, 66 

Persecution in England, 132 

Philip II., character of, 36, 88 ; marries 
Mary, 36; comes to England, 36; 
success in Italy, 42 ; offers marriage 
to Elizabeth, 46 ; makes peace with 
France, 46 ; changes in government 



made by, 87; founds Spanish Em- 
pire, 87 ; his religious policy, 89 ; 
identified with Spain, 90 ; opposition 
to in Netherlands, 88, 97 ; share in 
Ridolfi's plot, no; treatment of Don 
John, 151 ; ban against the Prince 
of Orange, 154 ; schemes in France, 
161 ; after the Armada, 186 ; and the 
French succession, 188 ; Protector of 
France, 193 ; financial difficulties of, 
228,231 ; makes peace with France, 
230 ; plans in Netherlands, 231 ; 
death of, 231 ; results of his reign, 
231-2 

Pinkie-cleugh, battle of, 19 

Pius IV., 49 

Pius v., 109, 132 

Poland, Henry of Anjou, made King of, 

Pole, Reginald, Cardinal, 32 ; descent 
of, 33 ; in England, 34 ; made Arch- 
bishop, 43 ; death of, 44 
Politicians, the, 197 
Politics concerned with religion, 4 
Poor-law, the, 207 
Popes 

Julius III., 37 

Paul IV., 40, 41, 42, 46, 49 

Pius IV., 49 

Pius v., 109, 132 

Gregory XIII., 121,161, 163 

Sixtus v., 178, 194 
Portugal conquered by Philip II., 154 
Portuguese discoveries, 91 
Prayer Book, of Edward VI., 25 
Progresses, royal, 144 
* Prophesyings,' 134 
Protestants, origin of, i 
Puritans, the, 132 
Puttenham, 214 



RALEIGH, Sir Walter, 167, 195, 206, 
211, 217, 

Reformation, the, its causes, i ; its 
meaning, 2 ; questions raised by, 3 ; 
political effects of, 4-6 ; in Germany, 
4-6 ; in England under Henry VIII., 
15, 16; under Somerset, 17; under 
Warwick, 24 ; in Ireland, 26 ; re- 
established in England, 49 ; contrast 
of in France and Germany, 52 ; in 
Geneva, 54 ; in France, 53 ; in Scot- 
land, 59-63 

Requesens, Don Louis de, 125, 149 

' Reservation, Ecclesiastical,' the, 13 

Ridley, Bishop, 39 



Ridolfi's plot, no 



5 pi 
Da 



Rizzio, David, 76 



244 



Index. 



Robsart, Amy, 142 

Rochelle, 103, 125 

Ross, Bishop of, iii 

Rouen, siege of, 197 

Russia, beginning of trade with, 136 



SACKVILLE, Thomas, Lord Buck- 
hurst, 219 
San Domingo, 173 
San Felipe, 181 
Saxony, John Frederic, Elector of, 9 

— Maurice of, 9-13 
Seymour, Edward, see Somerset 

— Lord, executed, 22 
Shakespeare, 222 

Sidney, Sir Philip, 174, 213, 216 

Sixteenth century, chief points in, 4; 
condition of Europe in, 5 

Smalkaldic League, 7, 9 

Smerwick, 162 

Somerset, Duke of. Protector, 17; fa- 
vors Reformation, 18 ; dealings with 
Scotland, 18; unpopularity, 22 ; fall 
of, 23 ; death of, 23 

Sonnet, the, 210 

Southampton, Earl of, 223 

' Spanish Fury,' the, 149 

Spanish monarchy, 84 

Spenser, Edmund, 143, 216 

Spinola, 232 

St. Bartholomew's Day, Massacre of, 
121-25 

St. Denis battle of, 102 

St. Germain, Estates at, 69 ; Peace of, 
103 

St. Jean d'Angely, 103 

St. Paul's Cathedral, a fashionable pro- 
menade, 203 

St Quentin, battle of, 42, 87, 93, 114 

Stewart, Lord James, see Murray, Earl 
of 

Still, John, 219 

Stow, John, 210 

Stubbs, pamphlet of, 156 

Stukely, Thomas, i6i 

Surrey, Earl of, 290 

Sussex, Earl of, 107 



THEATRE, The, in England, 206 
Throgmorton's plot, 166 
Tilbury, Elizabeth at, 186 
Toledo, Don Frederic de, 118, 124 
Translations into English, 210 
Trent, Council of, 9-1 1 
Tunis, 149 
Tyrone, Earl of, 231, 233, 236 



UDALL, Nicolas, 219 
Utrecht, Union q(, 153 



VALENCIENNES, 98 
Vassy, massacre of, 70 
Venitian glass, 203 
Venice, recognizes Henry IV., 197 
Vervins, Treaty of, 230 
Virginia, foundation of, 192 
* Voyage, The Island,' 230 



'I17ALSINGHAM, Sir Francis, 175- 

Warwick, Earl of, see Northumberland, 

Duke of 
Westmoreland, Earl of, 107, 108 
Wilson, Thomas, 211 
Winter, Sir William, 184 
Wishart, George, 58 
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, rises against Mary, 

34 



VAVIER, Francesco, 159 



YORK, Conference at, 105 
Yuste, 42 
Yvry, battle of, 195 



ZEELAND, 1 1 7-122 
Zutphen, siege of, 174 






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PHE EARLY PLANTAGENETS— Their Relation to the History 

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PHE EARLY HANOVERIANS— Europe from the Peace of Utrecht to 

the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. By Edward E. Morris, M.A. 
■REDERICK THE GREAT AND THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. By 

F. W. Longman. 
FHE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND FIRST EMPIRE. By William 

O'Connor Morris. With Appendix by Andrew D. White, 

LL.D., ex-President of Cornell University. 
PHE EPOCH OF REFORM, 1830-1850. By Justin McCarthy. 



EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY. 

A SERIES OF BOOKS NARRATING THE HISTORY OF 

GREECE AND ROME, AND OF THEIR RELATIONS TO 

OTHER COUNTRIES AT SUCCESSIVE EPOCHS. 

Edited by 
Rev. G. W. Cox and Charles Sankey, M.A. 

Eleven volumes, i6mo, with 41 Maps and Plans. 

Sold separately. Price per vol., $1.00. 

The Set, Roxburgh style, gilt top, in box, $11.00. 

TROY—ITS LEGEND, HISTORY, AND LITERATURE. By 
S. G. W. Benjamin. 

THE GREEKS AND THE PERSIANS. By the Rev. G. W. Cox. 

THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE— From the Flight of Xerxes to the 
Fall of Athens. By the Rev. G. W. Cox. 

THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACIES. By Charles 
Sankey, M.A. 

THE MACEDONIAN EMPIRE— Its Rise and Culmination tv, the { 
Death of Alexander the Great. By A. M. CURTEIS, M.A. 

The Jive volumes above give a connected and complete history 
of Greece from the earliest times to the death of Alexander. . 

EARLY ROME— From the Foundation of the City to its Destruc^ 
tion by the Gauls. By W. Ihne, Ph.D. 

ROME AND CARTHAGE— The Punic Wars. By R. Boswortb 
Smith, M.A. 

THE GRACCHI, MARIUS, AND SULLA. By A. H. Beesly, M.A. 

THE ROMAN TRIUMVIRATES, By the Very Rev. Charles 
Merivale, D.D. 

THE EARLY EMPIRE— From the Assassination of Julius Caesar 
to the Assassination of Domitian. By the Rev. W. Wolfe 
Capes, M.A. 

THE AGE OF THE ANTON I NES— the Roman Empire of the 
Second Century. By the Rev. W. Wolfe Cape«, M.A. 

The six volumes above give the History of Rome from the 
founding of the City to the death of Marcus Amelius Antoninus, 



A New Edition^ Library Style, 



©5? •^isforg flf Plonip, 

FROM THE EARLIEST TIME TO THE PERIOD OF ITS DECLINE 

By Dr. THEODOK MOMMSEI^. 

Translated, with the author's sanction and additions, by the Rev. W. P. Dickson, Regius 
Professor of Biblical Criticism in the University of Glasgow, late Classical Examiner of 
the University of St. Andrews. With an introduction by Dr. Leonhard Schmitz, and 
a copious Index of the whole four volumes, prepared especially for this edition. 

REPRINTED FROM THE REVISED LONDON EDITION. 
Four Volumes, crown 8vo, gilt top. Price per Set, $8.00. 



Dr. Mommsen has long been known and appreciated through his re- 
searches into the languages, laws, and institutions of Ancient Rome and 
Italy, as the most thoroughly versed scholar now living in these depart- 
ments of historical investigation. To a wonderfully exact and exhaustive 
knowledge of these subjects, he unites great powers of generalization, a 
vigorous, spirited, and exceedingly graphic style and keen analytical pow- 
ers, which give this history a degree of interest and a permanent value 
possessed by no other record of the decline and fall of the Roman Com- 
monwealth. "Dr. Mommsen's work," as Dr. Schmitz remarks in the 
introduction, " though the production of a man of most profound and ex- 
tensive learning and knowledge of the world, is not as much designed for 
the professional scholar as for intelligent readers of all classes who take 
an interest in the history of by-gone ages, and are inclined there to seek 
information that m"-»7 guide them safely through the perplexing mazes of 
modern history." 

CRITICAL NOTICES. 

* A work of the very higRdst merit ; its learning is exact and profound ; its narrative full 
©f genius and skill ; its descriptions of men are admirably vivid. We wish to place on 
record our opinion that Dr. Mommsen's is by far the best history of the Decline and ¥:<^1 
ef the Roman Commonwealth." — London Times. 

" This is the best history of the Roman Republic, taking the work on the whole — the 
juthor's complete mastery of his subject, the variety of his gifts and acquirements, his 
graphic power in the delineation of national and individual character, and the vivid interest 
which he inspires in every portion of his book. He is without an equal in his own sphere.'- 
»- Ediitburgh Review. 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 

743 AND 745 Broadway, New Yore- 



A New Edition, Library Style, 



©5? ^ixi^opg of (IrFFfp. 

By Prof. Dr. EENST OUETIUS. 

Ti:anslated by Adolphus William Ward, M. A., Fellow of St. Peters College, C^] 
bridge, Prof, of History in Owen's College, Manchester. 

UNIFORM WITH MOMMSEN'S HISTORY OF ROME, 
rive volmmes, crown 8vo, gilt top. Price per set, $10.0 



Curtius's History of Greece is similar in plan and purpose to Momms 
History of Rome, with which it deserves to rank in every respect as on 
the great masterpieces of historical literature. Avoiding the minute 
tails which overburden other similar works, it groups together in a i 
picturesque manner all the important events in the history of this ki 
dom, which has exercised such a wonderful influence upon the wor 
civilization. The narrative of Prof. Curtius's work is flowing and 
mated, and the generalizations, although bold, are i^hilosophical 
sound. 

CRITICAL NOTICES. 

" Professor Curtius's eminent scholarship is a sufBcient guarantee for the trustworthii 
of his history, while the skill with which he groups his facts, and his effective mode of nai 
ing them, combine to render it no less readable than sound. Prof. Curtius eveiywh 
maintains the true dignity and impartiality of history, and it is evident his sympathies 
on the side of justice, humanity, and progress." — London AthencBum. 

" We cannot express our opinion of Dr. Curtius's book better than by saying that it 
be fitly ranked with Theodor Mommsen's great work." — London Spectator. 

"As an introduction to the study of Grecian history, no previous work is comparable t 
the present for vivacity and picturesque beauty, while in sound learning and accuracy c 
statement it is not inferior to the elaborate productions which enrich the literature of tl 
age." — N. Y. Daily Tribune- 

" The History of Greece is treated by Dr. Curtius so broadly and freely in the spirit of 
the nineteenth century, that it becomes in his hands one of the worthiest and most instruct- 
ive branches of study for all who desire something more than a knowledge of isolated facts 
for their education. This translation ought to become a regular part of the accepted course 
of reading for young men at college, and for all who are in training for the free political 
life of our country." — N. Y. Evening Post. 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 

74J AND 745 Broadway, New York 



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